You might have noticed that I was a little quiet over August. I was off having my first ever 2 1/2 week break from work, well since I started my business.

Over the 5 years I’ve been running my own business things have changed quite a bit. I started out as a social media manager, supporting other businesses to grow their networks and sell their products. It was fun, but it also made going away on holiday rather tricky.

Social media never stops, it just keeps going. Or at least that is what I told myself. In the case of other people’s social media, I was paid to keep it going, fresh and energetic. But that isn’t the case if you’re running your own social media.

You can stop.

The world doesn’t stop turning.

A few people will notice that you’ve not been posting. But they won’t say, ‘oh my god why haven’t you been on Instagram everyday?’ Or ‘heck my life hasn’t been the same since you stopped doing those facebook live thingys.’

What they will say is, ‘did you have a nice break?’

Because the truth is we are all humans, and we all need a break. AI is on its way, but we don’t need to pretend we are computers to keep our businesses going. We are wonderfully, humanly a little broken. And that’s what makes us gorgeous.

So, whether you’re thinking of stopping your social media exploits for a holiday, for a stay vacation, or because there’s things going on in your life that need attending to and you just don’t have the patience to add another thing, be rest assured, you can skip a few days.

The pressure to be on all the time is too great. If you’re not feeling it, step away. Because it’s like cooking when you feel crappy, everything ends up tasting crappy.

And if you’ve gone to great lengths to build yourself a lovely community, they would rather you rested and said nothing for a while than served them crappy posts.

Plus the great thing is that you’ll come back rested and happier and calmer and more able to deal with running your business.

So here are the 5 things I learned from taking 2 ½ weeks off.

1.      It feels good to take a picture and then not instantly wonder whether it meets the muster for putting it on social media

2.      You can burn your bra and throw away your hair brush and makeup and no-one but your nearest and dearest will ever know

3.      The world doesn’t stop turning.

4.      No-one minds. It’s just our egos that think, ‘oh no I must be there for my tribe at all times.’

5.      You feel so much better and refreshed!

And of course it is easy for me to say this, I’ve spent the past few years building an audience, so that while I was away even when I wasn’t promoting myself new work kept appearing in my inbox.

But I think I would have enjoyed holidays in the past a little bit more if I’d let go and trusted in the universe that it would all keep on going!

And if you're looking for some good old-fashioned honest talking business advice - you know I'm your gal!