The balance between being productive and taking it easy

During COVID-19, one of the themes that keep coming up in therapy is feeling bad for not being productive enough.

Outside of the absolute curve-ball we’ve been living in, the concept of working hard and pushing yourself to fight the good fight brings an interesting question.

Where do you find the balance between keeping your head down for the sake of the hustle - and giving yourself a break from it all.

On one hand, we’re told that if it were easy, everybody would do it so push yourself!

On the other hand, burnout is real…

One helpful way to frame down-time is comparing it to sleep.

Nobody would argue that sleep isn’t a necessity. Getting a healthy 8 hours isn’t a luxury, it’s necessity to be able to perform better. Sleep isn’t a break, it’s being productive.

Sometimes it makes sense to look at a Netflix Binge the same way. It’s not taking a break from being productive - it is being productive.