How to Take a Healthy Break (Post #29)

"This is because life gets busy and before you know it, if you’re not intentional about your pause, you’ll unintentionally become negligent in your willingness or even desire to resume. "

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​PIP Family!!  How have you been?
 
I can almost see some of you saying, “No.  The question is, “WHERE have YOU been?!”
 
For those of you who look forward to this blog, please allow me to issue my deepest apologies.  For my tenured subscribers, you’ll notice that you haven’t receive a post from me since December 20, 2016. 
 
Yep.  That long.  However, during that time SOO much has happened…
 

• On the 22nd of December, I turned 36 years old!  Yay and yikes all at the same time.
• On the 23rd I celebrated 14 years of marriage. 
• On the 26th of the same month, my family and I moved into our FIRST HOME (which was my birthday, anniversary, and Christmas gift all-in-one). 
• Not to mention, I was knee-deep in vision casting for the church during both December and January 2017.
• And so on, and so on, and so on…

 
As I type this, I will admit that it does sound rather small now; however, during the months of December and January, it felt like too much.  I felt as if I was coming unraveled.  I felt very overwhelmed.  Maybe it was the stress of closing, maybe it was the pressures of moving, or maybe it was just exhaustion.  Whatever the case, I was done in my mind and I desperately needed a break. 
 
So, I took one.
 
Still, I learned something during my break.  I learned that you don’t have to let your break, be a break.  In other words, your pause doesn’t have to be permanent. 
 
How is that?  Simple, you have to plan for your break to end. 
 
I was talking to an individual during my hiatus and they were telling me about how they were fearful of taking a needed break from school, because they didn’t want the break to become a permanent end of their studies.  To that I replied, (while also listening to myself), “If you need a break, then take a break.  However, don’t let your break, be a break.”  I then asked, when they had to be back in school?  To that, they replied and informed me of the date.  After hearing the mandatory return date, I then said this, “I’m going to hold you accountable to ensure that as this date approaches you’re ready to reengage.” 
 
In other words, I’m going to commit myself to ensuring that this pause doesn’t become permanent. 
 
I was honored to have received outreaches from some of you.  Several of you had become used to the blogs delivery (an honor that I will never fully understand) and in the space of my break, you became concerned as to whether or not you’d hear from me again.  However, one in particular came from not only a subscriber, but a dear friend of mine named Ahmand.  Here’s a visual of our text exchange: 
 

• Ahmand:  “Kev, hope all is well.  Are you still doing #PIP blogs?  I [haven’t] seen one since 21 Dec….”
• Me:  “Hey my brother…  Yes, we’re going to relaunch the blog in February [**hey, perfectly imperfect, c’mon].  Took some time down for the holidays, the home purchase, and vision casting.”

 
He may not know this, but the fact is, his text was a form of accountability for me.  In fact, I do believe that absent that text, I would have probably allowed the blog to fade into oblivion.  This is because life gets busy and before you know it, if you’re not intentional about your pause, you’ll unintentionally become negligent in your willingness or even desire to resume.  His text is the reason why today had to be the reengagement of this community.  GRANTED, its A FEW MONTHS LATE, but I think you get the picture.  He helped me to learn and aided me in sharing with you that, a healthy break, is a break, with a solid end.
 
Missed you all and glad to be back. 
 
Your thoughts?  Tell me in the comments.  
 
Imperfectly,
 
Kevin D. Jones, Sr.
@imperfection360