Being active in your wellbeing sometimes means doing less.

In the colder months when the days are short and the terms are long, it is very easy to start to feel tired and even run down. Often, when we think of wellbeing, we think about all the things that we can add to our lives to enrich our hauora. But then there are other times where we need to know when to stop and slow down and perhaps put a pause on the multitude of things going on in our lives. It’s a great thing to have motivation and goals, but when our brains and bodies are tired, we need to give them rest. If we don’t, we risk exhausting ourselves or even making ourselves unwell.

Some ways to take time out are:

• taking that sick day if you are unwell instead of pushing through feeling ill
• reducing the amount of commitments you have one evening or over the weekend
• allowing yourself to go to bed early
• telling your friends and family you need some down time to recover so they know to let you rest
• putting down social media for a while
• ask for help with something instead of trying to do it all yourself

If you know someone who is getting run down, reach out to them and remind them that it is okay to take time out. They may not listen right away, but it may be the very thing they need to hear to get them to realise that perhaps a break is exactly what they need.