I have to admit, I’m a pretty hard worker; never ‘taking a sickie’ (even with pneumonia) and in fact, I was working seven days a week for most of this year.

Then two weeks ago I took a holiday. My first holiday in nearly four years. It had been planned for months - my son and I were going to Newcastle for a friend’s wedding and, since it was at the end of the school holidays, we thought we’d go for a whole week. After all, it’s such a long way to go for just a weekend.

I stressed so much for weeks over leaving my business; I had told my clients I’d be away well in advance and made all necessary provisions but I was still worrying about my business falling apart if I wasn’t there for… a whole week! So the time came and we went away… and guess what - I loved it! I enjoyed every single moment of my break and soon forgot about all the myriad of things that could be going wrong in my business. I had left my work mobile with someone else to look after all calls for the week and she didn’t phone me at all! She coped just fine without me.

Now I’m back and feeling so, so, so much better. I didn’t realise how burnt out I was or how tired and utterly exhausted I was until I was resting and playing for a while.

So with this new-found focus and motivation I have been putting a few changes in place in my business (which, incidentally, didn’t fall apart without me).

1. I now work five days/week - Monday to Friday - and generally take weekends off.

2. I finish work at around 6pm each evening (sometimes I’ll work of an evening if necessary, but not as a general rule).

3. Outside of business hours, I don’t answer the work phone and the computer is shut down.

4. I have employed an assistant and am training her. Next time I go on holidays, I’ll be confident that she’ll be able to hold the fort here.

5. I will be taking regular holidays, at least twice per year!

I know there are many other Mumspacers who are working mums and don’t take time out for themselves. Take it from someone who thought she didn’t have time for a break… you need the time out. And what’s more, you deserve it. After all, aren’t you worth it?