It’s a big decision to take a career break. In times when the employment market is fiercely competitive, giving up your job may seem suicidal. This keeps people in jobs that they don’t enjoy, doing the same things day in day out, just being disconsolate and building up fatigue. It can feel life has come to a halt. So what are the signs you should be on the watch for that will help you decided to take a career break.
One of the key signs you should take a career break is if your entire job starts to feel like you made a big mistake. It might not necessarily be the line of employment that is the problem, but more that fact that your brain wants a little time to recharge in order for you to do your very best.
If you find yourself going in to work and looking for excuses to do any but what you are supposed to do all day, then it might be time to sit down and accept the fact that you might be doing something for which you have little to no passion. Life is too short to be suck doing something you hate every single day.
Yes, work and having a career is an important part of life, but another equally important part is having time to spend and enjoy with your friends and family. If you feel like the balance between your personal and professional life are suffering because of your work, then it might be worth considering a change of career or career break to try to regain that important balance.
Even if you are completely qualified for the job that you are doing, the feeling that you do not belong in a certain career is always a big indicator that it is definitely not for you. It is vital to your every day happiness that you are in a job that gives you a sense of well being and satisfaction, and working in place that does not give you those feelings can be detrimental to you emotional health.
If the first thing that goes through your mind when you get to work on a Monday is that you cannot wait until Friday evening, then this means that your line of work is not giving you the stimulation and satisfaction that it should throughout the week. Longing for the weekend before the work week has even begun will only serve to make your working hours longer, so if you feel this way, it might be time to take a break to re-evaluate.
Just like it was important to have a good group of friends during your school years, it is equally important to have a good relationship with your work colleagues. If you have no connection whatsoever with the people you work with, it is going to have a negative affect both on you professionally and personally. You need to have a career that allows you to work with people who you truly like.
If you are in a job with very little creative productivity and are a person that craves it, then it could be time to take a break. Being unproductive at work can lead to being unproductive at home, so you need to take some time to find a job that is going to be able to satisfy your productivity levels and make you happy both at work and in a personal sense.
These signs are very telling and it is better to act on them than just continue doing something that doesn’t make you happy. Yes it’s scary but what’s life without a risk or two?
What would you do on a career break? Travel? Raise a family? Volunteer? Go back to school?