As I thought about this I couldn’t help wondering if we create business that could be avoided. I wonder what you feel when we have a long weekend like Easter or Anzac day. If you are like me you are likely to plan a short break from the usual routine of everyday life and meet up with family and friends to do something special. I hope this is your experience when we have a long weekend.
Sometimes however, life is so busy we can feel guilty about taking a break when a public holiday comes around. We look at our busy lives and schedules and can be completely overwhelmed by the lists of things we must get done and we feel we can’t afford time off to relax.
Its not just workers that feel this way, young people at school or university, mums running households and all the rest of us can feel this type of pressure from time to time. Perhaps it is good to reflect for a minute or two on the therapeutic benefits of having a time off.
Often in our rush about lives we forget the importance of stopping. We need to give ourselves the opportunity of social interaction and relaxing more than we perhaps do to re-establish our emotional stability. Quite often our productivity increases significantly by altering our lifestyle, even for a short period.
It is a well-established fact that “all work and no play” makes us pretty dull people. This doesn’t just apply to our social life but it is also reflected in our ability to work efficiently. When we take a couple of days off it helps us to keep things in perspective and I find that a niggling problem can often be solved unexpectedly by putting it down for a short time. I find it fascinating how our subconscious brain can sometimes do this.
What has all this to do with our health? I believe everything. To be really healthy we need balance in all things, which includes our ability to relax.
Don’t see public holidays as an imposition on your work time; rather see them as an opportunity to increase your productivity through balanced priorities.
Remember maintaining our good health is about 70% our responsibility through the lifestyle we choose. Relaxation is a significant part of our lifestyle, so enjoy the opportunities we have when public holidays come along they are not time wasters but productivity enhancers. If you didn’t have a break start working on when you are going to, I hope it is soon.
Regards
Julian
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