How Naomi Osaki Showed Us The Art of Taking a Break

Naomi literally showed up and showed out during this year’s French Open. After citing mental health concerns that the athlete felt were further triggered by conversations with the media, Naomi Osaki shocked us all by withdrawing from one of the most important tennis tournaments in the world.

Her decision showed bravery and strength, but most importantly, it demonstrated the importance of taking a break when needed. Unfortunately, hustle culture is all around us, and the workaholic nature of our society makes it even difficult to take a step back and choose your health over working.

However, we can all learn from Naomi and learn to honor our pauses. If you’ve been grinding and risking your well-being to do so, here are three reasons why taking a break is beneficial for your health and your productivity:

1. Taking a break gives you time to reprioritize. When you’re booked and busy all the time, you hardly have a moment to reassess your business or your goals. Setting aside time to reflect and get your mindset together can be the refresh you need to come out on the other side of your break energized and better than ever.

2. Taking a break allows you to heal, grow, and get reinspired. If it’s been hard to approach work lately, that might be your sign to take some time off. Sometimes our bodies and minds just need time to reset. Work can be physically and mentally draining, and we must give ourselves permission to step away from it to rejuvenate.

3. Taking a break helps you avoid burnout. Overworking yourself is never worth it, and it never ends well. So pause now while you can instead of waiting for that feeling of burnout to creep up on you. You have to take care of yourself now so that you can keep going later!

So the next time you’re feeling stressed or overworked, just go ahead and take a break. Because if the world’s #1 female tennis player can take a break, you can too.