There’s no need for me to start this with a quote. We have heard different versions of this a million times. "If you fail, try, try again." "You miss the shots that you don’t take." The sayings are endless. I don’t argue about this, either. It’s always important to try and not let failure get in the way of your success. I believe in every single word and I have worked every day of my life with these ideas in mind. However, I think there is a slight modification to this concept that often gets overlooked when we need it the most.

Sometimes, I have found that it becomes incredibly difficult to keep trying. You are tired. At this point, you have no energy left and every time when you try again, you feel like you are going to collapse. Everyone around you is probably telling you that now is not the time to give up. Now is the time to keep going because “you’re almost there.” As true or false as this may be, you don’t care enough anymore because you’re tired of keeping up appearances. Being someone who has found herself in this position at a low point in her life, I am here to tell you that it is OK to take a break. Take the break to recharge yourself, reevaluate your goal, get back up, and chase it.

When everyone around us looks like they are reaping rewards all of the time, it is easy for us to look at ourselves and paint ourselves as a discouraged soul. It is easy to let ourselves seem like a beaten soldier that is fighting for something to no avail.

I have found that such a thought process has not just been unhelpful for me, but also harmful. I put myself into a destructive cycle. I would try something for the ump-teenth time, fail (due to sheer exhaustion), which would then, in turn, bring my confidence down (each time more than the next), and I’d have to pick myself up while feeling bitter, resentful, and weak. I pushed myself to the absolute edge until I realized that those three feelings, bitterness, resentment, and weakness, were not helping me achieve anything. They were assisting me in my failure.

I am telling you this because we, as motivated and goal-oriented humans, are the last people to tell ourselves that we need to take a break. I know that I must not be the only one who feels like this. In the current competitive world, we are all hardworking individuals who are striving to meet the constantly rising bar of expectations. If someone shoots for the stars, someone else goes for the moon. Then, someone else aims for Mars and, before you know it, people are aiming out of the solar system.

We deserve to take a step back. We deserve to sit on the side of the road as the cars zip by, taking a breath to just experience the environment. Experience the images that are beyond this high-speed highway, the stillness of the trees and air. Just take a moment to let the negative feelings that have built up all go. It serves no purpose in reaching the destination. Then, know when to say that your break is up. Brush yourself off, get back up, get in the car, and go.

I’ve found that not only do I feel stronger once I granted myself a break, but I also feel better about myself. I feel more confident, more prepared, and ready to take on whatever challenge that may come.

Give yourself that break. Tell yourself that you need a break because you deserve it and you have done a lot up to that point.

Tell yourself that, no matter what, at least you tried.