The Importance of Time Off

Having just come back from a short vacation, I was reminded of the importance of what we all like to call self-care. We all talk about it and we all say we should do it, but I know a lot of us keep putting it off. I must confess I am one of those people who say, “I should take care of myself,” but often puts the needs of my profession and others ahead of my own. I guess it's just easier to say no to yourself than to somebody else.

But we need to say yes to ourselves. Yes to rest, yes to relaxation, and yes to refreshing our minds and our souls. If we don't do that, we can end up burned out, out of energy, and even worse -- out of ideas.

I realized last week before my vacation that I REALLY needed one. It’s not so much I was overwhelmed. My brain was just tired! Making the choice not to take care of ourselves leads us to become unbalanced. When that happens, our mind/body connection short circuits.

Being realistic, we also know that many times we are all unbalanced! And that's OK too. Living in the 21st century is exciting and there is always something going on which brings us back to the difficulty of saying no. For example: We can stream anything, on pretty much any device, from movies to podcasts and audiobooks. What if I miss something?? What if I miss out? (FOMO!) We spend much of our day on video calls especially during the pandemic. If we decide not to participate, we might have more FOMO! Because the lines have blurred more than ever in all aspects of our lives, we often find ourselves unbalanced.

We here at the League believe in balance and doing what we can to help not just our members but everyone in the nonprofit management profession to find balance in all aspects of our lives. We also want to affirm that it is okay to be Unbalanced on any given day. One day may be all about work; the next might be all about family. There may even be those days that you just don’t get a shower.

We also want you to know that you are not the only one who might be having an “unbalanced day.” We are excited to offer the “It’s Okay to Be Unbalanced!” webinar on March 30. Facilitated by Donna Dean and Cindy Simpson, this one-hour session confirms that it’s okay not to get it all done every day – some days you win by getting one thing done instead of 100. I hope you will treat yourself to lunch and join us for this supportive and affirming session that is great self-care!