Why is it that my friends in their twenties, and my parents in their fifties, and my gran in her eighties can’t dislodge the guilt of taking time for themselves?

Why am I just as hypocritical, getting palpitations at the thought of stepping away from my work for one hour to recuperate?

The pressure to push yourself and your limits can come from all sides of your life in the modern world. It’s not a bad trait in small doses, but with the rise of social media silently pressuring you to monetise your hobbies, and the cost of living ironically living rent-free in your mind, it’s not wholly surprising that we are constantly burned out or on the verge of it.

A lot of us may feel responsible for bearing a large emotional load or workload because of our upbringing, past worries with finances, or believing our salary and availability equates to our self-worth. In our modern age, we’re expected to be contactable at all times, so work can slip in after your shift has finished or long after you’ve gotten into bed.

It’s extremely difficult to accept that, as well as your kids or friends - you also deserve to take your own advice and take a break.

In school, when we were told to take breaks between studying, it was never clear to me exactly what that entailed or for how long a break was acceptable. It was the first time in my life I can pinpoint feeling guilty for doing the things I enjoyed.

That guilt hasn’t left me since, it’s morphed into an anxious voice in my head that appears in aspects of my life that have nothing to do with........

© Evening Echo