A Pause

Do you need to disconnect?

For some of you, life is a non-stop train.

For some others, life requires a pause in between projects.

I am with the second group.

After a big effort, my body and my mind need me to stop.

For many years, I thought this was a weakness. Then I realized it was not.

Feeling the need to disconnect, feeling the need to stop, is not bad. It’s just a way of being, a way of living life.

In my case, my brain needs to decompress. To stop thinking about what I have to do and, instead, start thinking about anything else but work.

For instance, I just finished working on the biggest project of my career, and I really needed to disconnect.

I would lie to you if I told you that I can completely disconnect from my job. Life nowadays makes it impossible. There is always the need, and the temptation, of checking my email or my Teams.

But being able to decide when to do that is a blessing.

I know work is around the corner. A lot of things are waiting for me, several calls are lined up, and many emails will need my attention. Still, I am enjoying every second of my time off.

This is not a message asking you to do the same as I do. This is me sharing how my brain works, and why making a pause is important and helpful for me.

In the end, it is about recognizing what works for you, what makes you feel good. It is about finding the way to the best version of yourself, both in the personal and the professional fields.

What I do ask is that you recognize how the people around you work best. Do they need time to unplug, or do they need to keep going? Learn that, and you could be a better teammate.

In the meantime, I will keep doing what works better for me: taking some time off to disconnect at the end of a project.

It doesn’t matter if it is a day or a week (or two). What matters to me is to take time to stop, think about nothing, and slowly get back into the rhythm of my work.

See you soon.

Oscar S

P.S. If I have not answered some of your messages, please be patient with me. I promise I will get to them in the upcoming days.