Do you ever feel like you’re constantly on the go and would love some down time? I know it’s not always easy to take time off, but we have to remember that all work and no play can be a detriment to our work ethic and overall morale. I like to think of this as a fallow season, a time to rejuvenate and refresh. While this isn’t always easy to make time for, I’m hoping that I can explain just how important it is to take time to do nothing, and how to add this time into your life.
What is a fallow season?
I’m borrowing this phrase from the farming community, and a fallow season is when you don’t plant any crops in a specific field. This gives the soil a break and allows the nutrients to be restored to create a more bountiful soil for later seasons. In life there are times when we are constantly going between work, family, and personal stuff and it seems like there isn’t enough time to get everything done which makes it gets easy to get burnt out. Burning out, or running out steam is just like stripping the soil of nutrients by constantly planting crops in the same fields every season. Life requires some down time, from a vacation to a day off to just do nothing. It’s tough to take time off, it may feel selfish or like you can’t afford it, but in the long run it’s a necessity. Without some down time you will burn out, and will be forced to take time off because you’re sick or just not yourself.
How to add a fallow season
In my experience a fallow season just kind of happens in my life. Sometimes there will be room for downtime, and sometimes there isn’t, but I have to aware of it. One time I decided I was going to take a whole month off and not work. It sounds daunting and at first it was. But once I made the decision I had a plan to get all my work done and I did take that month off. I worked from 11-3 every day and the down time happened. I felt prepared and ready because I had worked so hard to allow myself the time and pleasure of that month. It turns out that I really needed that month off because a friend of mine was hospitalized and I got to spend every day with her in her time of need. That’s what I mean by the fallow season kind of just happening; when I need to be restored the opportunity comes. Sometimes you just have to have faith that you’ll be rewarded for all your hard work and that an opportunity will come.
I know not everyone’s schedule and lifestyle allows for a whole month off, but the point here is that you can’t do all the seasons at once. You can’t be creating, growing, celebrating, and taking time to care for yourself all at the same time. There will be a time for each of them, but you have to be aware of the signs and signals that it may be time for a break. You have to have a season of care too, which is why a fallow season is so important to consider. There will be signs to rest, and if you ignore them they will only intensify until you have no choice but to rest. Rest days get served up, not scheduled, but make sure that you include a rest day and season in your life, it’s more important that you may realize. This is SUCH an important lesson that Bret and I teach in SMART Success. We created this program because our lives were out of control. We were living by someone else’s agenda and we were miserable. We had to figure out how to re-create our life together… through that experience came SMART Success. We would LOVE for you to benefit from the free training we’re doing this week about how to save money, make money, work less and have better time management. Go to www.smartsuccess.com to watch!
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