Space begets sanity: The power of making room for yourself

This past weekend, I got a great lesson in the power of space. And how space can affect your career (and sanity).  Last weekend was my husband’s highschool reunion. And, since he had the civility to graduate in Daytona Beach, Florida, that meant a weekend at the beach. Without the kids. No pressure. No priorities. Hooray, right? Sign me up!

Or so you’d think.

Instead, I started finding every excuse in the world not to go. The babysitter can’t handle the kids. The dog threw up. I have too much to do at the office. There are dishes and laundry and emails and OH MY GOD I haven’t done that video interview and what about the intranet project and… I was too overwhelmed to even consider time away.

This is not unusual thinking, either. People everywhere are overburdened. “Many of us have felt like we’ve been working more than ever since early 2020, and our data proves it,” reports The Harvard Business Review. “Looking at anonymized productivity patterns in Microsoft 365, we’ve seen a steady uptick in the average workday span (+13%), after-hours and weekend work (+28%, +14%, respectively), time in meetings (+252%), and chats sent (+32%). It’s a rising tide that’s not sustainable.”

I feel your pain. But here’s a truth for you: busyness begets busyness. And not all busyness is good.