Breaks = Emotional Regulation
We all know that taking breaks from stressful situations, negative people, our jobs and children are important for our mental and physical health. We also know that meditation, eating healthy and exercising daily help us regulate our emotions and become the techniques that we use for our so-called breaks. I do not know about you, but after a long day at work and running around doing errands etc, it is very hard for me to complete these intense regiments with the few hours that I have remaining before bed. However, I know that breaks are vital for people in the helping profession due to the amount of emotional trauma that we hear and feel with our clients. Taking breaks prevents us from being harsh, losing empathy and regulating our own emotions in positive ways. Also, our physical bodies and minds need the breaks to keep us healthy enough to manage our own life challenges. So how can we possibly incorporate breaks into our schedule without it becoming overwhelming and difficult to do? I have provided a few suggestions.
Daily breaks-
How many daily breaks (be honest!) do you take during the day? What does a daily break look like? How can I incorporate them into my schedule? Now let us see, hmm… what does a daily break look like? Well, just like clothing there are many different types. A daily break is anything that you do to transition your mindset from one thing to another. For example, as I sit in my office and I’ve seen client after client, how do I take this break? What I tend to do is take a minute to listen to a calm and relaxing song to change my thought pattern. Another way I take a daily break is to spend about 30 seconds just deeply inhaling and exhaling to remind myself to keep mindfully breathing. Also, many times I will just close my office door and do a few squats, jump and wiggle my body to release some tension. I believe that it is imperative for a helping professional to take as many daily breaks as possible due to the amount of stress that we listen to and help people manage. Releasing those tensions will improve your evening and prevent frustrations that you may have at the end of the day.
Weekly breaks-
Whew!!! We all know that I live for my Friday night seclusion routine (see blogpost ...). This break tends to provide me with a reset. Also, I try to have a weekly outing with either some of my friends or my spouse. This time for myself reminds me that I should enjoy the beauty of life. However, living in the real world I understand that soccer games, gymnastics meets or family emergencies may prevent these breaks from happening weekly. “So what do I do?” one may ask. Well, if my weekend has been slammed I ensure that I do something at home that I would not normally do. For instance, I may give myself a facial, dive into my reading material (ones just for tension release) or take a drive around my neighborhood with the windows down and the air blowing in my face as I listen to my favorite music. These weekly breaks do not take time away from your busy schedule and require very little effort. No matter what life may throw your way, you as a helping professional MUST take weekly breaks.
Monthly breaks-
Ohhh monthly breaks!!! What should these look like? What is the significance of monthly breaks? In my mind a monthly break should include a relaxation component. As a therapist I suggest that clients use these monthly breaks as relaxation opportunities. So, if I suggest these to clients, of course I believe that helping professionals should do it too! (Remember we are all people that struggle with stress!) Why do we need monthly breaks? Monthly breaks add the official way to take time out for health and wellness. For wellness you should choose activities include massages, pedicures, special meetings, total video game veg out days, yoga retreats- you name it. This break should be planned in advance and be an event that you feel really excited to do! It should take pressure away and provide you with physical, mental and emotional relaxation. Also, the monthly break should focus on making adjustments to your health regiment. These adjustments should include spending time reworking plans for exercising, changing eating habits, mediation regiments that work appropriately with your schedule. Remember these are health plans that we will fit into our schedule and will not cause overwhelming feelings and added pressure. Also, you have the option to include your friends and family in this break (if they do not cause stress and are NON-toxic!!) to make the breaks more worthwhile, fun and not overdone!
Vacation breaks-
I cannot emphasize this enough as a helper professional the importance of vacation! According to my official recommendations, I believe that I person should have at least 3 vacations a year. Now, this does not mean that you take 3 Caribbean trips a year (unless you are ballin’!!), however it means finding time to get away about every 4 months to have new scenery, time to assess your life/career/ and next steps. The smaller vacation breaks can include going to hiking parks for a day, being out on a boat etc, that switches your normal home scenery. These breaks can be 1 to 2 days if your schedule is hectic. For your longer and more “official” vacation break the days should include at the very least 1 day of complete fun and 1 day of total relaxation. We spend our lives rushing, accomplishing task and solving issues so we need to spend time on our Vacation to rekindle our relationships with our family as we improve our own mental health.
I understand that reading through this post may leave you thinking, “Wow there are so many ways to take breaks!” But on a serious note, my hope is that helping professionals will practice a lot of what they preach to their clients. It is imperative that helping professionals incorporate daily, weekly, monthly and vacation breaks into their schedule to help manage your successfully. Be sure to create a schedule/plan to help you make this a practice in your life.