How to Actually Take a Summer Break When Everything Depends on You

Summer arrives and somewhere in the back of your mind there's a quiet hope that this year will be different. That you'll actually rest. That you'll switch off properly.

And then the emails keep coming, the phone keeps ringing, and by the time August is over you're not sure you ever really stopped.

I want to offer a different approach. Not a perfect one — but a practical one, from someone who has had to learn this the hard way.

Plan the leisure. Seriously.

We plan work down to the last detail. Meetings, deadlines, deliverables. But rest? We leave it to chance and then wonder why it doesn't happen.

This summer, decide in advance. A proper break — one, two, three weeks, whatever your situation allows. And during that time: no business emails, no work calls. Not "I'll just check quickly." Actually off.

Beyond the main break, plan your weekends deliberately too. They don't need to be expensive or elaborate. They just need to be yours. Decide what makes you happy and put it in the calendar before something else takes that space.

Finish work on time — all summer

This one is underrated. Summer has something the rest of the year doesn't — long evenings. Light until ten. Warm air. That specific kind of quiet that only comes in July and August.

But you only get those evenings if you actually close the laptop on time. Make finishing on time a priority all summer, not just during your official holiday. Those long evenings are yours. Protect them.

Find pleasure in small summer things

Rest doesn't always look like lying on a beach. Sometimes it looks like biting into a strawberry that's still warm from the sun. Playing volleyball with your kids in the garden. Swimming in a lake. Doing something with your hands in the garden that has nothing to do with productivity.

These things matter. They bring you back into your body and out of your head. And that — more than any spa weekend — is what rest actually is.

Ask for help so you can actually get away

Summer is also a good moment to ask. Could the kids go to grandparents or camp for a few days so you and your partner can breathe together — without logistics, without the mental load of managing everyone? Or maybe what you actually need is a couple of days completely alone — a cabin somewhere, a book, no agenda?

Neither of those things happens unless you make them happen. Which means asking. Organising. Deciding you deserve it — which you do.

What recharges you is personal

For me, it has always been nature. Every summer my family and I go to the Tatra Mountains to hike. And something happens there that doesn't happen anywhere else. The noise in my head goes quiet. I feel completely present — like there is nothing else in the world except the path, the air, and the people next to me. That's when I feel most alive.

Your version might look completely different. And that's exactly the point.

Because here's what I've learned: sometimes three hours by a fireplace at night — really present, really there — can leave you more rested than three weeks of a holiday you spent half-distracted. It's not about the length. It's about the quality of your presence in it.

Happiness really is in small things. The trick is slowing down enough to actually feel them.

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I'm Roma — a leadership coach for women who are responsible for a lot, at work and at home, and want to stop feeling like they're always running behind. I help them build structure and clarity so they can perform well and actually live well too.

If this resonates, feel free to reach out.