Taking Ten – Three New Ways I’m Taking a Break

Life’s so busy these days isn’t it! If I’m not with the kids or working, there always seems to be 101 jobs that need tackling at home. Making time to take a break just for me, is forever getting pushed down the agenda. So I’m starting small, making some minor changes to my daily routine, working in some ten minute breaks to relax.

Normally a mini break for me tends to be a quick scroll on social media or a skim through BBC headlines online. But for 2022, one of my resolutions is to be more deliberate with my time – not wasting so much of it, mindlessly scrolling.

So, here are a couple of the new things that I’ve enjoyed doing instead recently, when having a coffee break throughout the day.

1. Online Games

I’ve never been a big gamer – my children love it and spend time regularly on consoles, but mostly whenever I’ve had a go, I get so frustrated at not being able to remember all the different buttons and commands (and how rubbish I am) I give up easily.

Recently however, I have been enjoying playing some other online games on my laptop and phone. These are from the website Solitaire.org where there are loads of traditional games to play. As the name suggests there are a lot of card games and variations of Solitaire and as I used to like playing this one (or as I called it Patience, lots as a child, this is one I was drawn to first) Although there are a lot of different versions to try out, after giving a couple of them a try, I kept gong back to the original Solitaire. As my work requires a lot of concentration, its really nice to have this as something to open up in a new browser when I’m having a coffee to switch off for a few minutes, before moving onto something else.

I’ll confess I’m still not very good at it, but its really satisfying when you complete one and I also like that I can restart the game easily if I don’t like the cards. It’s simple, but you still need to concentrate, so it becomes a good ten minute distraction. Being timed is good too, as its discourages me from getting distracted and then clicking onto other things at the same time.

Another game I used to enjoy when younger was Tetris. I’ve also been playing this one, again through the Solitaire website, but this time through my phone. Again its nice and simple, but really sucks you in wanting to get a higher score each time. I also like that there’s an option you can choose before starting the game, that means you are playing the game in full screen and not just a small box as part of a mobile web browser. Something else that sets this website apart from others, is that it’s ad free. That feels rare these days and its nice not to constantly feel distracted by adverts popping up every couple of minutes.

2. Getting Some Fresh Air

I know this sounds really obvious, but I have to admit when I’m juggling lots on my to do list, I’m terrible for staying indoors all day, to get them done. But what I’ve realised, is by forcing myself to take a break outside, I’m then far more productive for the remainder of the day. I find just walking for the sake of it pretty boring though, so I need a reason to get outside. The two reasons I’ve been using recently depend heavily on the weather. My first is if its bright and sunny I spend my ten minutes in the garden doing something productive, dead heading plants in the summer for example or cutting back in winter. To encourage me to do this more, I make sure my gardening bits and bobs are always easy to access.

If the weather isn’t so good then for my second reason, I basically bribe myself to go with the reward of coffee! I take a brisk (very brisk if its raining!) walk up to the coffee shop in our local town centre and then a slower walk back, drinking my take way coffee. Taking this time outside with fresh air and a little bit of exercise thrown in, really then helps me to focus for the afternoon.

Exercising is always a great way for me to clear my mind and helps me to be more productive when working. Jen over on the blog Love Chic Living has recently been reviewing a great way to combine the two, A Flexi Spot Desk Bike. Head over to her website for her review on how to Stay Fit While Working.

3. Podcasts

I have a few different podcasts that I really enjoy listening too. There’s some marketing focussed ones I listen to regularly, but the ones I put on when taking a break are rather the chatty weekly updates. The two I’d recommend the most are Rosie and Chris Ramsey’s podcast about married life and also Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell. Although I can’t listen to the whole thing in one break, its just nice having ten minutes of listening to an easy chat (that often makes me laugh out loud) while I’m making a coffee and having a break. The only thing with this, is I also have to be careful to not get carried away and listen to the whole thing when I should be doing other things. For this reason I quite often set a timer on my phone at the same time as pressing play on a podcast, so if its just for a little break, I know when I need to pause to get back on with what I was doing.