5 Things You Need To Do NOW To Take Off 3+ Weeks in 2025

Get the tools you need to take off 3 weeks or more by next year

Yesterday was my first day back seeing clients virtually in my home office in 3+ weeks. Not only was it the longest I’ve ever been away from my practice, but it’s the longest amount of time I’ve EVER taken off from any job. Working for yourself is hard, but the reward of not having to go through the emotional ups and downs of feeling guilty for requesting time off (or being guilted for requesting time off) more than makes up for itself. 

At first, there was the initial mix of emotions that can only come when you’re a business owner staring over the edge of the cliff of something you’ve never done before: 

The relief at the thought of 3 weeks without expectations or demands…

The exhilaration of having wide-open spaces on my calendar to fill with crafting, cozy gatherings, and time catching up on my favorite BBC period dramas…

The insecurity of not being able to fill my calendar for 2025 with workshops and speaking engagements if I stepped away this winter…

The fear of judgement from others (that I would somehow be seen as “lazy”)...

But - I had these mixed feelings AND did it anyway. When you have systems and processes in place that work for YOU (not systems you have to bend your schedule around), it suddenly becomes crystal clear how you can take extended time off and still feel confident in your decisions and abilities. 

Here are the 5 exact steps I took and the 2 thought exercises I journaled on so that you can start implementing tools now to set yourself up to take 3+ weeks off of work in 2025. 

5 Question to Ask Yourself (if you’re telling yourself you can’t take time off) 

I’ve heard so many therapists say “I can’t take time off, what would my clients do without me at this time?”. Maybe you’ve heard other colleagues say this or maybe even a supervisor (or maybe you’ve thought these things to yourself. 

If you’re telling yourself you can’t take a weeklong-vacation because your clients depend on you, this could mean one of two things:

A) Your clients are truly at a higher safety risk if they were without your support for a week - which might indicate they need a higher level of care than you can provide in outpatient 

B) You believe your clients would be “lost” without you and have become dependent on your role as a therapist to meet some need - which might mean you are partaking in a saviorism narrative. 

Take some time to journal about the following questions: 

1. Are my clients at a higher risk for safety concerns if I take a week off? 

2. If my clients are at risk without seeing me for a week, are they even appropriate for outpatient services? 

3. If they are not at a higher risk, what’s really stopping me from taking this time? 

4. Is my belief that my clients will be “lost” without me founded in my own beliefs about my role?

5. What are some ways I could prepare my clients (and myself) for this time off? 

Envisioning This Time Off (my sure-fire way to finding motivation) 

Imagine the time off that you want to take. Maybe it’s just one week to start. Maybe you travel or maybe you take a staycation. Now instead of imagining the full week, start with just a “moment” you want to create. Imagine the vibe of the moment you want to set. 

1. Where are you? 

2. What time is it? 

3. What is the weather like? 

4. What are you wearing in that moment? 

5. What sounds, sights, and sensory experiences are happening? 

6. What are you eating or drinking? 

7. Who are you with? Or are you alone? 

8. What emotions are coming up for you? 

Here is an example of what I wrote for imagined time off this winter: 

I’m sitting on my living room couch with a cheery ASMR fireplace on the television (probably my favorite cozy Hogwarts Legacy Hufflepuff fireplace video). My sherpa blanket and socks feel so comfy, and I’ve just made a large pot of spiced hot chocolate with home-made vanilla whipped cream. I’m feeling grateful that my past self took time out to set up systems that allowed me to have this moment. 

Then when you’re feeling unsure about taking the steps to take this time off, you can look back on this moment you’ve created to feel motivated and excited about creating this moment for yourself. 

5 Steps to Taking 3+ Weeks Off of Your Practice 

These are the steps I took early on in 2024 that allowed me to take 3 weeks on this December-January. Taking this time off didn’t just HAPPEN - it took weeks of planning and preparing systems and clients so I could take off so much time (after taking time during September-November for conferences). If you set these systems up now, you could be well on your way to taking this time off by this next holiday season. 

1. Set up a separate savings account called “time off” that I started pouring extra money in at the end of each month. That would be my income during this time off from seeing clients. My goal was to match 3 weeks of average income I brought into my practice. 

2. Verbally informed my clients in October-November that i would be taking 3 weeks off 

3. Changed my availability on my Simple Practice calendar so that current clients could not request appointments during my time off (I have a self-scheduling option in my practice so I can cut back on the back and forth with clients about scheduling - I just send them a link and they schedule themselves based on how I set up my availability!) 

4. Changed my availability on my Simple Practice calendar so that NEW potential clients could not request consultation calls until I was back in my (virtual) office

5. Sent a mass announcement reminder via my HIPPA compliant platform in early December with reminders about when I would be out of office. 

BONUS: 

Additionally, I also verbally discussed my annual fee raise with each client and then sent out my annual paperwork to announce a fee raise of $10 per session. While it may seem small, this increase would ensure I was keeping up with inflation and setting myself up for success in 2025!