As the holidays approach, many people start thinking about resting and disconnecting for a few days.
But in HR it isn’t always that simple.
I’m Nara, the mascot of HR professionals, and today I want to talk to you about a skill that’s especially important at this time of year: learning to rest even when there are matters still pending.
In HR, being available, anticipating problems and supporting others is part of the day to day. Over time, that way of working can make disconnecting harder than it seems.
That’s why, when you disconnect, several concerns tend to appear at once: the need to leave everything closed, the urge to keep checking that all is well and the difficulty of trusting that things can carry on without you.
Sometimes the holidays start before the rest does. Your head is still busy with pending matters, conversations that were left open or decisions that will have to be picked up on your return, and disconnecting takes more time than expected.
Here are three skills that can help you set aside, for a few days, some of the responsibilities that take up your attention the rest of the year.
Skill 1
The permission to leave without having finished
The mind tends to keep incomplete matters active so as not to forget them. That’s why, when something is left open before the holidays, it can keep coming up even when there’s nothing more you can do about it.
The way to help your mind isn’t always to finish it, but to give it a provisional closure. You can define what’s missing, who it depends on and when it will be picked up again.
For example:
“This topic is pending confirmation and I’ll pick it up again on September 2nd.”
The matter is still open, but it stops floating around.
Often the mind doesn’t need everything to be solved in order to let it go. It needs to know it hasn’t been abandoned.
Skill 2
Switching off the availability reflex
Checking your email during the holidays can produce an immediate sense of calm. For a few minutes it seems everything is back under control.
The drawback is that this calm doesn’t last long. After a while the doubt appears again and the temptation to check once more arises.
Before opening your email, it can be useful to ask yourself a simple question:
“Is there something that really requires my attention, or is it just that I find it hard not to know what’s going on?”
The answer won’t always be the same, but asking yourself this question helps to tell a real need from an acquired habit.
Each check may seem small, but it also means devoting part of your rest to staying on top of work.
Skill 3
Trusting in order to rest
Resting means accepting that things will keep happening in your absence and that other people may solve them in a different way.
Before you leave, two questions can help you:
“What do I need to leave ready before I go?” “What do I need to accept that I can no longer control?”
The first helps you leave things organized; the second, to disconnect more easily.
Trusting doesn’t mean everything will be done exactly as you would do it. It means accepting that the work can carry on without you having to step into every decision.
Humántica®
Sometimes we think resting simply means stopping work for a few days. But for rest to be restorative, the body also needs to come out of alertness, the mind to stop watching over what’s pending and the emotion to let go of what it’s been holding for too long.
At Humántica® we understand that wellbeing appears when body, mind and emotion can recover that balance.
When I watch the Imantia team work, I notice they try to leave clarity, anticipate what might cause worry and make the process simple for those who coordinate it from HR.
Because taking care of a learning experience also means taking care of the person who makes it possible from within the organization.
I’ll still be around here, watching closely how you work… and learning too from everything you hold up each day.
I hope you have a restful holiday.
And who knows, maybe at some point we’ll cross paths at the office. I almost always go with Berta to her meetings with HR.
— Nara
P.S.: What’s the hardest thing for you to let go of when your holidays begin?
