Leaders, you need a break. You have so much going on!! And..not only are you a leader, you are a mentor, volunteer, friend, mom, or dad – the list goes on. The truth is, as leaders in the event industry, we wear many hats. With many hats, comes much responsibility. Leaders that have lots of responsibility, need to take time out for themselves. Time to relax and do absolutely nothing. This nothingness is called white space and is a much-needed gap of time in all of our calendars. So how do you get a little white space in your life? Here are a few tips that can help.

Take a walk

Walking not only helps you with the essential exercise that you need, but walking outside helps you to be close to the earth. When you are close with the elements of nature, you will find that you are more grounded. Try to take your walk-in complete peace, without any distractions at all. If you are listening to any music, try to incorporate instrumentals to free your mind and enhance your white space experience.

Take light rest

Try to either lay down, or sit in a lounge chair and do absolutely nothing. Put some music on if you have to. The idea is to rest and to not sleep. Rest your eyes, and allow whatever comes up, to come up in your spirit. You’ll find that through many of these exercises that you will have thoughts and feelings come up. Acknowledge each and every one of them. Other times you’ll find that ideas or other creative thoughts begin to spark. Acknowledge those too!

Color or draw

Yes, it may sound very juvenile, but coloring can be very therapeutic to the soul. Find an adult coloring book and whip out some colored pencils, crayons, or markets and just draw. If you don’t have a coloring book, perhaps just grab a canvas and some paint, and paint it out! Not having an agenda on what you are drawing, or how, just be free and draw, paint or colors to your heart’s content.

Enjoy the elements of nature

You will be amazed at how tuning into the elements of nature can relax and reset your soul. When we think of nature, we think of earth, fire, water, and air. Create white space for yourself by tapping into one of all of these elements. Find which one speaks more to you than any other. When you do, take the opportunity to sit by a fire, stand in the wind, swim in the water, or just sit with the earth.

Take a scenic drive

Get out of the house and take your car out for a nice scenic drive to pass the time. Have a pretty flexible timeframe and just set your cruise. Have fun with it and pick a location you haven’t been before, and enjoy the drive. Roll the windows down, take a breath of that fresh air and relax.

When you are taking advantage of a little white space in your life, make sure to disable your notifications on your phone or laptop. Although you want people to reach you in the event of an emergency, you want to really free yourself of any distractions, so no calls or meetings during this time.

When you think of white space from a designer standpoint, it is usually a portion of a page that is left unmarked. Basically it limits designers from covering their page with busy images and words. I thought this was so insightful as it relates to us making room for white space in our lives. White space restricts us from over-scheduling, over-committing, and having too many things to do. It stops us in our tracks and forces us to observe the limitations of the noise in our lives.

White space leaves separation between the content of our lives, and makes the important thinks stands out, and that creates the balance. Do you have white space in your calendar? It not, schedule some time to do at least one of these items on the list.  If so, let us know how you like to spend your time.

P.S. Are you suffering from burnout? This post may be able to help you.