How do you stop feeling guilty for taking a break and resting?

8 comments

1. Somewhere in there you have to break free from the notion that your job is your purpose in life. Even if you love what you do, you are so much more than that one aspect of your life. Sometimes too it requires letting go of control—the job will run without you. And if/when you leave, they’ll just replace you. Switch your loyalty to yourself & your well being, because capitalism doesn’t give 2 fucks.

2. If you don’t give yourself a break, at some point your body or mental health will force you to take a break. So you may as well try to have a balance in your life by doing what you can, and resting when you should.

3. At least when it comes to work, I know my company doesn’t feel guilty about overworking and underpaying me, so why should I feel guilty about taking my allotted break time? Or heck, even more than my allotted break time. No one’s actually working all eight hours of a standard shift, lbr.

   And as for vacation time – assuming you’re using PTO – you are literally entitled to that time. It’s in your contract. So why on Earth would you feel guilty for taking it? Even if your coworkers have to cover for you, at some point they’ll be taking their vacations, too, and you’ll return the favor.

4. Get angry at how our societal capitalist system exploits 99% of us.

5. By telling myself “even God rested.” But seriously, I just remind myself that when I’m at 10%, I can only give 10% to the people and places I care about. When I rest, and can get my mental, physical & emotional energy/health back up to 100%, I’ll be able to give more to the same people and places.

6. My friend told me “you could drop dead right now and they’ll have a job posting for your position next week”. So i stopped feeling bad lol

   But my workplace is pretty nice so far, they’ve never questioned me or anything when i’ve taken time off.

7. When you realize it’s a necessity

8. I don’t feel guilty in the 1st place. I earned my vacation time, and I’m damn well gonna take it. It’s not a request, I’m telling you I’m gonna be gone, so you best staff accordingly.