Let me preface this with, “I am not certified advice giver.” Take this advice at your own risk. I recently had the opportunity to go to a multi-day music festival with a friend. I was actually a bit hesitant to go as we got closer because I felt bad that I was going to be leaving my wife and children for a few days. However, I had committed to doing this, everything had already been paid, and it was time to go. I spent the next few days doing something that I had not done in many years, I was with friends, and( although I wanted to my family there) I did my best to enjoy every minute of my trip. Which, turned out, was not hard to do.
When I came back, I received open-arm welcomes from the family. The kids wanted to hang out with me (which is rarely the case). Then it was back to work. As we reached Thursday, it dawned on me that I had just felt better. I was happier. I felt invigorated and the my work had noticed it too. When I brought this up to my wife, she said it was because I had a break…from everything. Which made sense.
I know that this sounds obvious, but how many times do we talk ourselves out of taking a break because of our responsibilities? However, being able to take a break (and I mean a real break – taking the family to DisneyWorld is not a break) can really help get you out of that rut or struggle.
I know it isn’t easy to leave everything behind, but with proper planning, I would encourage everyone to take a complete break every so often (once a year, every couple of years, every five years in my case it seemed) to get you back into enjoying your career. It doesn’t have to be expensive or extravagant, and should be pretty flexible and/or stress-free. Don’t try to fill the time with experiences that keep you tied to an itinerary. Allow yourself time to just explore and experience things organically. I would also encourage you to help your spouse(if you have one) to do the same, without you, if they want.
This can tie with Voice over as well as any career. We all need a real break from everything from time to time to help bring back a sense of peace and joy. This takes us out of the hamster wheel of our careers and gives us a moment to breath and stretch our legs. I don’t know if this will help you, but it helped me and that is why I wanted to share it this week. Thank you for reading.