The most loving and luscious thing you can do for yourself, and HUMANITY in my humble opinion, is to take regular sabbaticals at least every quarter. Include a media cleanse as well.
I plan my sabbaticals in June/July and the week of my birthday in January to fill up my well of self-love and self-care.
Second thing I decide prior to my sabbatical what my objective is. Maybe it’s a long weekend of naps, meditation, yoga, lounging around. Or I may decide to do a week or two and devote it to one of my writing projects.
Below are my top tips to plan your sabbatical from my book Return to Enchantment: Your Guide to Creating a Magical Livelihood.
Stay off of other people’s blogs, no matter how good they are. Take time away from social media. Work from your bathtub, the beach, your backyard, your soft, comfy bed. Daydream a lot.
I know that we all need to promote our offerings and that many of us are leading Facebook groups and our own workshops/courses.
Do the best that you can to stop any habits of over-consumption; media and others’ ideas and rules are great for them, but ultimately can push you off your center.
Decide how often and how long you desire to stay off of social media, blogs and the computer.
Create a media cleanse and sabbatical that feels awesome to you and schedule it into your calendar today.
Planning Your Social Media, Blog, Online Cleanse + Sabbatical
1. How long will your media sabbatical/cleanse be? You can take half days, whole days, weeks or months. You decide.
2. Choose the dates and mark them in your calendar.
3.What and whom do you plan to avoid, ignore and release over that time? Make a list and your own set of rules to follow.
Ideas: No social media, except to check in once daily to respond to friends, family, current clients and potential clients; check email no more than twice per day; turn off the cell phone for part of the day; turn on invisibility mode in Skype and let clients know they can contact you after lunchtime.
4. Prepare for your sabbatical by setting up marketing with Hootsuite. Inform anyone who may need to reach you during this period (family, friends and clients) that you’ll get back to them at the time you’ve set aside for appointments. Put an autoresponder in place.
Seriously, just do it. You’ll be so grateful that you did.
One thing my Dad taught me (besides how to awesomely drop F-Bombs during an awards acceptance speech) was that you never get back lost time. Use your time, don’t fritter it away.
Deeply … passionately + pleasurably yours,