Can someone please give me a break? This is the day to start this podcast with Anthony Fungini Man. Ha ha. The problem is the question itself.
Since when was it up to someone else to give you a break? Unless you're currently locked up or held against your will. Saapiritan, nasa kulunan. The choice to take a break is a personal one and is ultimately your responsibility, your decision, not anyone else's.
I mean, to think of it now, even in prison, inmates are given breaks. I'm in awe of incarcerated individuals digging deeper at their course and discovering gifts and passions that make them come to life. At the time of their lives when they're actually, I quote, on break from the rest of the world and from whatever it is that they did, right, that landed them in there. Prison, not a few have testified, can be the most liberating.
Short, medium, long, or lifetime, a break. Leading to a higher quality of life. I insist on my family taking breaks. I said, actually, sorry, that non-negotiable in our home.
I said, in our company, we've had a mandatory four-day work week even before the pandemic. And from a personal standpoint, people who know me know that daily, it is essential that I pace myself, consistently shifting and balancing my professional, relational, and personal lives. And keeping in mind that each one affects and is impacted by the others. But whether I actually live up, right, to live up to taking breaks, daily is my personal choice.
Can someone please give me a break? Sure. But it won't mean anything if I don't actually take the time, the energy to take a break and do nothing. Let's struggle is real.
But for many practicing the rewards of taking breaks are waiting to be maximized or already pouring in. And the consequences of not prioritizing them are already showing and growing. Be thankful if you've got a family and a company that consider it their duty to remind you of occasionally pausing, stepping back, you know, from time to time, leading a more balanced life. You know, you are blessed if your family and company encourage you to live the kind of life and you'll be foolish not to seize the opportunity for less stress, right, for higher quality work and to avoid longer-term burnout that will require much more in time, energy and resources to heal and recover from.
So make that choice. Now, if you find yourself in a situation where it's being withheld, right from you, where hard work is over-glorified and basing yourself as a luxury, then get ready to fight for it, to secure it, to make sure of it. As I once quoted TD Jakes and I find it apt now to say it again and I quote, what God has given you permission for, you sometimes have to take by force and quote. So take a TikTok, take a TikTok, take a break.