Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we flew to Florida for time with my family. We planted ourselves in Delray Beach and even though the temperature was cool, the sun was warm and potent. I felt myself begin to thaw and absorb some much needed Vitamin D! On the second day of our visit, while my son and husband napped in our hotel room, I escaped to the downstairs pool to relax and catch up on some Me-Time. However, I found myself texting, emailing, and on the phone with my colleagues. Have you been there too? I started to feel weary but kept plugging through my emails, determined to conquer some of my work while I had the time.

Ah, the curse of the entrepreneur! What a blessing it is to work for oneself, to have the luxury to work whenever you so choose! But what if you choose to work pretty constantly? What if catching up begins to replace down time and sunbathing becomes sunny conference calls?

As my anxiety was building over the flood of ideas I felt needed attention, I texted my awesome strategist Jasmine Takanikos to set a time for what I decided was a very important call- could we talk on the Friday after Thanksgiving? She very lovingly and quite clearly texted me back that she was OFF for the next four days and that our conversations could in fact wait until the next week when we were all back in NYC. In that moment, I was in awe of her – she had decided to turn off her work for four whole days and for some reason, I was having a very difficult time doing the same. I texted her back that she was right! I needed some serious boundaries, mostly with myself, and that I was going to take her lead and take a few much needed days off too. Immediately, I felt lighter. I made one last phone call to wrap up any outstanding business and let the world know from there that I was not going to do any more work through the holiday weekend. A revelation.

So I say to my dear friends who are running their own businesses and particularly to those of us growing one, we still must find ways to unplug and take time off; truly, it’s essential to being a compassionate, present family member and friend. And the cool thing was that I was kind of excited to get back to work this week as opposed to feeling resentful because I hadn’t had a break.

With the holidays coming up, it’s the perfect time to plan for a little unplugging. Maybe have a day away from the IPhone? Or a few days without communicating with your work colleagues? I’m going to try it and see how I feel. I know, deep down, that it’s integral to being able to give my all when it counts the most. Let me know how it goes for you here in the comment section!