Starting the year the way I want to continue
In a couple of weeks, I’m heading off for a long weekend away in Melbourne with friends. It required some juggling of schedules and finances — and talking myself through some emerging feelings of guilt — but honestly, I’m super excited and completely sure it’s the right decision, not only for me, but for my business too.
By the last quarter of 2025, I was exhausted — and if I’m honest, likely edging toward burnout. A combination of long work hours, sustained effort in building my business, and some unexpected challenges with my elderly parents came on the back of several years without taking a dedicated holiday. I told myself I just needed to hang in there, but knowing I wasn’t giving my clients the best version of myself was adding to my stress. In reality, my body was trying to tell me something.
Chronic stress has a cumulative effect on the body. When stress is ongoing, the nervous system remains in a heightened state of activation, and stress hormones like cortisol stay elevated for longer than they should. Over time, this can impact sleep, immune function, mood, concentration, and emotional regulation. We may feel wired but tired — more reactive, less resilient, and increasingly depleted, even if we’re still functioning on the surface. This is where rest stops being a luxury and becomes a biological necessity.
Many of you will know that I very intentionally organised to take a two-week break at the end of last year, including a five-day trip to Queensland doing a house swap with my brother. Researching and planning what I was going to do over those few days away became a fun hobby in the lead-up. While I love my job, I was genuinely excited by the prospect of a change of scenery, the opportunity to detach from my responsibilities, and the space to consciously reflect on what I wanted my life to look like over the year ahead. If you’ve ever found yourself counting down to a change of scenery, you’ll know that feeling.
Holidays can play an important role in mitigating the effects of chronic stress, with consistent evidence showing reductions in exhaustion, improvements in mood, and increases in overall life satisfaction. At a physiological level, time away from work has been linked to reductions in cortisol, improvements in heart rate variability (a marker of nervous system flexibility), and better sleep quality.
Holidays don’t have to mean a month-long trip to Europe. There is evidence to suggest that frequent shorter breaks may provide more sustained benefits than a single long holiday each year, with vacations around one to two weeks in length, taken three to four times per year, being recommended as optimal by some researchers.
But the good news for those of us with financial constraints, caring responsibilities, or work demands that can make regular holidays inaccessible is that even a few short weekend getaways throughout the year can be beneficial. Studies comparing short breaks away with longer vacations have found that short getaways can significantly improve attention, wellbeing, and restorative outcomes. Long weekends and short vacations are associated with improvements in perceived stress and recovery, with benefits sometimes lasting weeks after the short trip has ended. This is reassuring for many of us who don’t have the flexibility for extended time away.
One key factor in whether a holiday is restorative is psychological detachment — the ability to mentally disconnect from work. Simply being away isn’t enough if we’re still checking emails, thinking about deadlines, or carrying work stress with us. Leaving the laptop at home, disconnecting from work group chats, and engaging in activities unrelated to work can all support deeper recovery.
Unfortunately, the benefits of holidays can be short-lived. Many of us are familiar with the feeling of a holiday quickly becoming a distant memory once we return to our usual routines. Studies show that people often return to their pre-vacation levels of stress and wellbeing within as little as one week of resuming work — a reminder that recovery needs to be ongoing.
This is where microbreaks become particularly relevant. Microbreaks are short, self-directed breaks taken as needed between tasks. Unlike scheduled breaks like lunch, they can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes and are voluntary, rather than interruptions imposed by others.
Research on breaks is complex — outcomes depend on timing, activity, individual preferences, and job demands — but broadly speaking, taking brief breaks to do something enjoyable or relaxing can improve mood, reduce fatigue, and in some cases enhance performance. Interestingly, snacking during breaks doesn’t show the same benefits as engaging in relaxing, social, or cognitively distracting activities!
Importantly, microbreaks help interrupt prolonged stress activation. Even small pauses can signal safety to the nervous system, allowing stress hormones to settle and mental resources to replenish. Over time, these small moments of recovery can help buffer against the accumulation of chronic stress.
This year, I’ve intentionally approached rest differently. I’ve scheduled short breaks throughout my day and planned brief periods of time off across the year — not as rewards for working harder, but as essential supports for sustainable wellbeing. It’s a shift away from pushing through, and toward listening more carefully to what my body and mind are asking for.
Starting the year the way we want to continue doesn’t always mean doing more — it often means building in the conditions that allow us to function, recover, and remain well over the long term.
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