If you have a strong sense of responsibility you will understand this week's particular struggle. The need to take care of yourself vs your responsibility to others.

This has been one of those weeks where I know I need to take time off. I have a lot of personal things that I need to take care of and having the time off to knock them out would be heavenly. I am currently working on them in the mornings before work, in the evenings after work, and on the weekends. I am at a point where having to break up my focus is hindering my progress. 

The problem is that I have a project related job where each person on my team has a few projects they are responsible for. So, if I take time off that puts the pressure on the rest of my team to also take on my workload, and we are already understaffed. I know that taking the time will allow me to come back feeling refreshed and better able to focus, but I can't shake the guilt of leaving my projects with my team while they are overburdened. 

Don't get me wrong, my team understands and my manager is fully supportive. I've never had an issue with my time-off requests being denied or my team trying to make me feel guilty. We are a small team who constantly reminds one another of the need to take personal time. But each one of us also considers how it will affect the rest of the team. 

How do you get past this? Does the feeling of guilt ever go away? Or do you just learn to work around it? Does it get easier?

I am taking my time off, there is no doubt that I absolutely need it. But I would love to find a way to get rid of the guilty feeling.

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