Living Life Fully’s Daily Pick-Me-Up

I’m completely convinced that many people are stressed out, unhappy, and even ill because they don’t allow themselves to rest enough.  They don’t give themselves enough down days during which they don’t do anything at all other than putter around the house or read a good book or watch a couple of good movies or go for a long walk or two without any thought of work or their other commitments.  They allow themselves to live stressful lives without giving themselves hope for downtime, and they force themselves to endure continuous strife without giving themselves much-needed rest in order to re-energize themselves.

I’ve driven most of the way across our country quite a few times, and all the way across a few times, too.  One of the things that I most like about our highway system is the rest stop, that place where we can get out of our cars and experience something different.  We get fresh air, we stretch our legs, we get our blood flowing after sitting in one place for a long time, and in general we make ourselves much more fit for going on; we create the conditions to make the next part of our journey more pleasant and much less tedious.

But I know people who tell others with pride just how many days of vacation they have saved up because they never take any.  I know people who in addition to the jobs they do also volunteer for all sorts of other activities, creating a life in which they never have downtime.  I know people who are edgy and finicky and grumpy all the time, yet who insist that they don’t need to take a vacation or even take a few days off from work.

It’s important to keep in mind, though, that a rest area doesn’t just help us to make our trip more pleasant; it also makes the highway a safer place for everyone else on the road.  By making ourselves more fit for driving, we create the conditions that make it less likely for us to fall asleep at the wheel or to allow the road to lull us into a trance.  We give ourselves the chance to pay better attention and to drive better and more safely.  Research indicates that up to 20% of all accidents and 10% of all road fatalities are caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel–and of course, that number of fatalities also includes people who didn’t fall asleep at the wheel who were hit by someone who did.  So while we might say that our grumpiness is “just the way we are,” just how are we affecting other people in our lives–our children and spouses and grandchildren and co-workers and everyone else–just because we’re unwilling to rest and make ourselves more pleasant through a bit of rest?

So how many miles ahead is your next rest stop?  When will you give your self a chance to experience recreation (”re-creation”)?  When will you give your mind and body a chance to re-energize and re-invigorate themselves either by focusing on something completely new and different or by not focusing on anything at all?  On the highway, other people have done us the service of creating rest areas for us.  In our own lives, though, that responsibility lies with us, ourselves, and with no one else.  If we don’t make the effort to make rest a significant part of our lives, then we can be sure that we’re setting ourselves up for much more stress and disease (”dis-ease”) as we try to force our way through life rather than making our way in peace and good health.

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when
you come back to your work your judgment will be surer.
Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller
and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack
of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.

Leonardo Da Vinci