It's important to take breaks, especially when it's busy.

It's important to take breaks while working at the bar. Our jobs can be very stressful and fast paced, especially during the busy holiday season. Marathon weeks of holiday buyouts coupled with the general holiday frenzy and our own personal end of year woes create an unpleasant cocktail of stress, exhaustion and anxiety. And because we're so busy with work and everything else, it's easy to let other healthy habits of eating, drinking and exercise slip to the bottom of our priority list. If we don't give our minds and bodies time to catch up, the long term effects can be serious or even fatal. Many different studies show a significant increase of coronary related death during the holiday season.

When you do take a break, it's important to really take a break. Standing in the walk-in and continuing to worry about what's happening on the floor isn't really taking a break. Your mind and body are still in a state of stress and anxiety. This is something I personally struggle with as well. For most of us, it's really challenging to let go and truly take a break.

Although it may not feel like it, it really is ok to just stop thinking about the floor for a couple of minutes. Worrying about it isn't going to help the situation, and it will actually make things worse for you. And honestly, stepping away for a couple minutes isn't really going to affect service very much. Everything will still be there when you return, but you will be much better prepared to handle it because you gave yourself a chance to catch up.

Check out my advice about taking breaks in this shorter episode, in the player or wherever podcasts are found.  I know this holiday season is busy, so I'm giving you some quick advice to help get you through. You can even listen to this episode on your break if you want to. Be sure to visit our homepage for much, much more, and let me know how this is working out for you. You can leave a comment or send me a message through our contact page. Thanks so much for tuning in, and I’ll see you next time.