On the Importance of Taking a Break
We work pretty consistently throughout most of our lives, particularly if we're fortunate to have regular work available to us.
In most countries, it's customary to start working from the age of 16 in an official capacity (usually a little part-time job somewhere on the weekends), and then from 18 something more permanent. In some countries people may start work much earlier, but for the sake of this entry, let's assume it's 18 officially.
If you started work at 18 (assuming you didn't do extended study at University or beyond), then based on the average age of retirement in the UK (just over 65), you'll have worked roughly 5 days a week for 32.4 years*. That's a loooong time.
My friends will often point out to me that I'm notoriously bad for working constantly. I'll pretend I don't, or make light of it when people seem to be working over their hours, but I clearly work more than I should across various side projects and extra curriculars. But this year, I actually stopped. For two weeks, I did one tiny bug fix on my skate app Shrednotes, and that was it. Literally 5 minutes of "work". And it felt amazing.
Now I'm going to check my privilege here. I know many people aren't afforded the luxary of long vacation time and the ability to truly switch off, but it's magic if you can and do. Since about 2016, I've been careful about how much I let work bleed into my off hours. I got deeply into minimalism, and with that the principles of being able to let things go (both physically and emotionally), and as a result got really conscious about the hours I worked. I've managed to maintain that pretty steadily, besides the additional side project or freelance work I pick up here and there.
I've spoken before about procrastination and about my work process, and I think it's important to really understand deeply why taking a break is a valuable tool in being your best self, both at work and in life.
When we work constantly, we tend to procrastinate far more than we realise. All the inbetween moments where you "quickly check your music app" for new playlists, tab over to Twitter/Bluesky/Reddit etc etc. and hit refresh, or just sit staring at your open Figma canvas/IDE. We've all done it, and we all continue to do it more than we realise. All that wasted time, is because our brains aren't built to be at 100% for 8 hours flat. So how can we be truly productive for 8 hours?
If we think about our humble beginnings with agriculture during the start of domesticated humankind, then we can get a clearer picture of how we're supposed to operate. People would wake up with the sunrise, tend to their livestock and farmland, then shut down at nightfall, and prepare for rest, then sleep. Now, that schedule varies depending on time of year, in the summer, that window is much larger and it's more valuable to work longer hours to get greater reward in harvest, in winter that window is much much smaller, and thus there's less to do naturally, so more time is spent resting and recovering from that summer period.
As time has progressed, timezones were introduced thanks to the creation of the US rail network and we started to work more structured and consistent days. I mean, why not, we have artificial light, so we should stay awake past nightfall and keep going to make maximum profit for our employer.
This means we naturally force our bodies to work outside of their comfort zone, particularly in winter, where we're expecting people to be at 100% productivity for 8 hours, in which probably 4-6 of those are in darkness. No wonder you're exhausted and mentally blocked.
Ideally, what we need is greater flexibility for people, a way to work hours that are more suited to our natural circadian rhythm, and particularly reduced hours during the winter months. But that won't happen, because Capitilism. So I think the best we can hope for, is that we actually take proper advantage of our time off when we have it, and truly switch ourselves off. Refocus our energy onto family, friends, and ourselves, instead of our employer or customer.
This is easier said than done, and I'm aware I checked my privilege at the door on this one. But take the time to consider your options, and if you can take a break, either every evening, or weekend, or even once every now and then; make sure you do. 32.4 years is a long time to be earning your chance to take a break, so don't wait until you're too old to make the most of it.
*Calculated based on 47 years of work (age 18 to 65), approximately 252 working days per year (after deducting public holidays and standard 28 days annual leave), so total working time: 11,844 days or 32.4 years of actual work time when accounting for holidays and leave.