This week I started a new job at a new company after almost eight years in my previous position. I loved my colleagues and was proud of my work, but I needed a change. The new challenge excited me, but I wasn’t expecting the roller coaster of emotion that happened in the time between. Here are a couple of things I learned during my transition:

An object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Newton’s First Law of Motion

I was fortunate enough to take some time off between gigs. That first day off was a blur; it was a Wednesday. My girls were in school, my husband was doing things, and I wanted to be busy too. I made a coffee to go, collected my pile of Amazon returns, made a list of items we needed for our upcoming family vacation, and set out on a mission to be busy. I felt a sense of accomplishment after hitting four stores before stopping for breakfast. I continued that day in the same way, charging forward as if I were racing a clock.

I decided to do more on Thursday, still riding the high of dopamine from the previous day. More shopping, more prepping, more, more, more. Something happened when I stopped for a mani/pedi after lunch. The salon wasn’t very crowded, and the near silence forced me to slow down and enjoy the moment.

I wish I could say it only took me two days to realize my zen. I was well into my second week off before I saw this TikTok and put all the pieces together. If I didn’t slow down, I would end my time off completely exhausted. My new co-workers would probably sing, “She came in like a wrecking ball…” and I wouldn’t be putting my best foot forward in my new position.

Taking time off for yourself is a must, and you don’t have to change jobs to do it. The time doesn’t have to be a traditional vacation; grab a long staycation weekend after closing a big project, or just take an odd day off once a month.

I took two and a half weeks off between jobs; I spent the first three days trying to be busy, then seven days of vacation with five other families. Did I mention my girls are two and four years old? This vacation was (good) chaos, and I was not the one in control. It was awesome and crazy-making at the same time. Fortunately, I had a whole week to recover post-vacation and return to a calm and productive mindset before joining my new team.

Even before kids, I realized I needed to plan trips with at least one day at home before returning to work. You need time to reset your brain to normalcy, time to do laundry/put away your travel gear and time to relax.

It’s very tempting to max out your vacation for all the days you have off, but I encourage you to try this method the next time you plan a trip. I think you will be pleasantly surprised; this small gap makes a huge difference.

Forget about best, you can only do good work if you bring your good self. (just go with it) These are just a few ways I make time off work to my benefit, but I’d love to hear about other methods you use to reset yourself to good!

Photo by Sunder Muthukumaran on Unsplash

This is a reprint of a blog originally published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/object-motion-stays-carleen-carter/