The Benefits of Taking a Purposeful Pause

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I took a break around the holidays and, for a while, I wasn’t sure I was going to return to the podcast. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Spoiler alert: I’m back! </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">2020 was a beast of a year in its own right. With the pandemic, quarantines, racial and political tensions, it was anything but a “balanced” year. Despite all that, some great things came out of 2020 for me:  </span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">I continued to grow my business in the online space</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">I learned new skills to build a thriving community </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">I created some content-rich and really helpful courses</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The year was challenging — some of it self-imposed and much of it not. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Then we decided to sell our house and move. And, with many big moves, there were some hiccups along the way. Bumps involving water leaks, contracts falling through, and deals suddenly landing on hold. Fun stuff like that. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And by the end of the year, my nervous system was exhausted and craving a break. At that point, I was uncertain about the future of this podcast. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy podcasting. I was just… tired.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So I intentionally took a break, and in doing so, I got some much-needed perspective.</span></p> <p><strong>Here’s my 4-step prescription for a purposeful pause:</strong></p> <p> </p> <div style="margin-left: 2em"> <ol> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"> <strong>Refresh</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">. I stopped. I gave myself permission to disconnect and do nothing. I took a break. I let go of “have to” thinking. In fact, I emot