I’ve always kind of been the type to push himself a lot, especially when it comes to my work. For the most part, I never stop, unless I get sick and even then, I end up powering through if my illness takes a bit more time than I’d like. This instinct has served many of my previous employers well through the years. Even though most employers make a nice show of telling staff not to come into work when they’re sick or to make sure they take their vacation time, it’s very seldom a happy thing when staff are absent from their post for any length of time. It can make for a scenario where even people who aren’t as much of a “go getter” as me question whether they should actually take time off or not. But in the interest of one’s health, let me tell you… You absolutely should.
First and foremost, let me slap you in the face with a small dose of reality. Speaking only for myself but generally speaking, I’m out of the house for work purposes at least 10 hours a day. By the time I leave the home and get to the office, put in my 8-hour day and make my way home, that’s my 10 hours. We have a pretty structured daily routine that involves eating supper and cleaning up, which averages about two hours. Okay. Then, depending on what day of the week it is, we follow a showering/bathing schedule for the boys, I help with laundry and cleaning and whatever other chore may be required that day, which usually leaves an hour, if I’m lucky, to just sit and veg out in front of the television with my wife. Conceptually, we could be using that hour for something productive, like exercising, taking our boys outside or sitting at the table with a drink and good conversation. But by this point, we’re usually both so burned out from the day that we’re in bed shortly by 9 pm (if not before) to grab what hopefully ends up being 8 hours of sleep. Only to do it all over again the next day.
I’ve often heard it said that one must work to live, not live to work. While it would be far better not to have to work to live either, one must also admit that there must be some outlying purpose to life besides sitting at home, so work can be okay. But the important thing is to make some time for yourself and keep that time for either personal self-development, training, relaxing or just straight up doing something for oneself. The important aspect to bear in mind is that there’s a huge difference between being “off work” and actually relaxing. You can be at home doing nothing but still not relaxing. While sitting in front of the television binge-watching your favourite show can be relaxing on occasion, when it becomes the habit and part of the only hour to have free to the entire day, you may be stuck in a repeating loop that you’ll be unable to work your way out of.
What I mean by this, is that it’s important to change up what you do with your down time so that you don’t become stagnant. I’ve had a rough go in recent months, between my use of Ozempic, weight loss and lessened energy levels, I’ve moved away from my usual fitness regime and favoured resting up on the couch with my evenings so that I don’t turn into a bag of absolute smashed ass at the office the following day. The problem is that doing the former does not prevent the latter.
Through my studies, I’ve often held the belief that all life is created from energy. So a simple equation to life can look a little something like this. Everything alive moves. Movement creates energy. Energy sustains life. Life creates movement. It’s a simplistic view of how we maintain ourselves but the reality is that as soon as you eliminate any one of those three, the other two will falter.
If you stop moving, you won’t maintain your energy and you’ll die much sooner. This is why it’s so important that one makes the time to keep some movement going in one’s life. While one may feel it’s better (and usually easier) to just rest up with the precious little time one has in their day, taking time for some self-care and actually entertaining distraction can be important.
Last week and completely out of the blue, I decided to take the week off. At least the first half. Thursday and Friday I had my eye injections, but more on that in another post. I’m one of those people who carry over more vacation time than he takes, so I figured I should end that cycle and take some time off. No plans, no destination; just pure, unadulterated time off. And I’m happy to say that I did absolutely nothing.
Most people would assume that vacation time means you need to travel, visit family or do something specific. But there’s something to be said for just staying at home, kicking back and maybe doing a few things in the house you’ve been putting off. Despite travelling to Saskatoon for my eyes on Thursday, it was a good week of sleeping in and relaxing. And sometimes you need that. ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 