Down days are opportunities to recharge and refocus. They give your mind the space it needs to reconcile what it’s learned, allowing it to come back stronger for the next challenge.
How long a series of down days lasts depends on your needs. If you’ve been working like mad at work, you might need to take more time than someone who’s had a lighter workload or been working part-time hours.
The purpose of this post is to explain why down days can sometimes be a good thing for your wellbeing. Here’s everything you need to know:
Strengthen Your Resilience
One reason we love down days is their innate capacity to strengthen your resilience. When you take time off, you have space to take stock. If you’re an introvert, you get the freedom you need to recharge your batteries and come back fighting.
Many people go for weeks fighting uphill battles, believing they can get somewhere. Eventually, they wind up feeling exhausted, undermining their ability to cope with the struggle, whether it’s at work or elsewhere.
But when you take a break, you have room to become more robust and treat yourself to something nice. A few good emotions and a good night’s sleep are often enough to set you back on the path.
Appreciate The Good Times
Another reason down days can be a good thing is their ability to remind you of the good days. Even if life seems tough during the week, having a break every now and then can dramatically improve your well-being over the long term.
Try getting into the habit of appreciating the good times. Look at what’s going well for you, and how you could potentially gain more from the good things in your life. You could also add a practice of gratitude and meditation every morning, slowly changing how your brain operates.
Down days themselves can also be a reminder of the good times. This is something that the supportive counsellors from a mental health center understand and use this to enable personal reflection. When you focus on gratitude for the things going well in life, it eliminates many of the negative emotions that can bring people down.
Just having time off from work can be enough to change your mood and prepare you for the following week.
Spark Creativity
Remember in the introduction we talked about how down days help your brain reconcile what you’ve learned and help you come back stronger? Well, it’s true. Having some time off here and there from the grind sparks creativity and allows you to think more freely.
When you aren’t focusing on your usual tasks, you suddenly have more mental space to dedicate to other things. Many people discover they have their best idea when they’re away from the office, allowing them to generate new ideas that propel them forward and ensure their success.
You see this when it comes to major career or investment decisions. Individuals often have better ideas when they don’t feel pressured. It makes you wonder why so many businesses insist on “brainstorming” meetings.
Gain More Perspective Over Your Life
Related to this, many people discover that down days give them time to reflect and gain more perspective on their lives. It gives them a chance to consider what’s going well, and what they might want to improve.
This happened en masse during the pandemic when many people were forced to spend weeks at home working remotely. Most workers refused to return to the office, preferring instead to be in the comfort of their home while tapping away at their keyboards. Many also reconsidered their careers and whether it was a good way to spend their time. A lot of people realised they’d be making mistakes working long hours and returned to their families in the evening and at the weekend.
There are numerous ways you could shift your priorities during downtime. For example, you might conclude you need more money and start a side hustle. You could also do things like spend more time with your children, travel to far-flung places or visit elderly relatives more often.
Become More Energetic
Finally, taking down days ultimately makes you more energetic. When you give your body and mind an opportunity to recover from the constant onslaught, it will.
Most people discover they can’t work seven days a week. They have far more success with five (or sometimes less) spending at least two days of their week on other life projects that matter. Once you get into a better routine, you may even start looking forward to Mondays.
If you want to make a change and enjoy more downtime, it can be done by simply living a little more frugally – if you’re not spending as much on your bills and essentials you don’t need to earn as much, so you can afford to work fewer hours and enjoy life a little more. That’s the whole ethos of my blog and I hope you’ll be able to find the resources you need right here. Good luck! 🙂
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