Telltale Signs It's Time For A Break From Your Regular Life

If you love your regular, day-to-day life, you’re in an enviable position. For most people, life feels like a slog, getting from one milestone to the next. 

But how do you know when you should take a break and make a change? Well, you’re about to find out. This post looks at some of the signs that things need to change, preferably sooner rather than later.

Feeling Exhausted All The Time

Feeling exhausted once in a while is okay, especially if there’s a good reason for your tiredness. But if you feel exhausted all the time, it could indicate a deeper issue. 

Feeling exhausted after a full night’s sleep, for instance, may suggest too much stress the previous day. An aching headache and tired limbs suggest way too much cortisol flowing through your system. 

It could also indicate a stress-related health problem. When our lives become too challenging, our brains can unconsciously work against us, demanding that we take a break.

Decreased Productivity

You may also notice that your productivity is dwindling. Whereas you could take on seemingly any task in the past, you feel much more limited recently. 

Decreased productivity can take many forms. For some, it is an inability to concentrate and work or write emails. For others, it’s a lack of creativity or a sense of originality. 

Whatever it is, you are more likely to notice it when you need to take a break. Time off work in the form of a holiday is essential for recuperating, recharging your batteries and planning the next stage of your life. 

Getting Physical Symptoms

You might also notice some physical symptoms telling you that it’s time to take a break from work. Other than the headaches mentioned above, you might also experience digestive issues, muscle tension in your body, and tingling sensations in your fingers and toes. All these signs are manifestations of chronically elevated stress levels and could indicate deeper health issues. ​

Trouble Concentrating

Brain fog and trouble concentrating are other signs you might need to take a break from your regular schedule. You may notice you are struggling to register what others are saying or can’t focus for longer than a few minutes. 

Remember, burnout is a prime driver of the loss of mental clarity. If you are struggling to marshal your thoughts, there is a good chance that it’s to blame. 

You might also notice you are making mistakes you wouldn’t normally make. For instance, you might re-read emails and notice grammar errors or forget to follow standard procedures in the workplace. 

More serious lapses in concentration could include nodding off while driving or being unable to speak coherently due to tiredness.

Isolating Yourself From Social Interactions

Another sign it’s time for a break is if you start isolating from social interactions. Taking less interest in relationships could indicate you have too much on your plate and need to take a step back. 

Withdrawing from social engagements begins small and then grows. For example, you might say no to going out with work colleagues after a long shift but eventually, you may avoid your regular friends at the weekend because you feel the need to recover.

Using Alcohol

Turning to substances, like alcohol, is another sign you need to take a break from your regular schedule and do something different. As Real Deal Sober Living points out, heavy drinking can creep up on people as a way to deal with challenges in their lives. Stress-related alcohol consumption can quickly lead to dependency, leading your life in an even worse direction. 

The good news is that there are plenty of facilities dedicated to providing people with a much-needed break from alcohol use and helping them get back on the straight and narrow. Choosing environments where drink isn’t available resets your mind and helps you find a better rhythm for your life. 

Neglecting Self-Care

You might also notice that stressful events lead to a decline in self-care. For instance, you might not shower as often or eat as well as you did when you felt happier. 

Neglecting self-care is manageable in the short term, but it will come back to bite you in the long run. Failing to get adequate sleep or missing out on fruits and vegetables will cause health issues that invariably worsen your situation in the future.

Feeling Negative All The Time

Feeling more negative all the time is another sign that you might be burned out or just need a break from your schedule. It’s easy to feel hostile to life when everything is so hard and relentless. 

For many people, taking a couple of weeks off work and doing something fun is the cure. However, you may want to rethink your life from the ground up and try something entirely new. 

Many people mistakenly believe that feeling negative is just a fact of life. “Happiness is for children,” they say. This belief, though, can deny you the opportunity to do things that really make you feel great and empowered. You go through life believing it has to be painful when, in fact, it can be blissful. 

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