Turn It Off

We're all busy.  

For me, a small and rapidly expanding business takes up most of my time. It's both exciting and exhausting. For you it might be the same or it might be a demanding position with a more traditional employment agreement. It doesn't matter.  

My epiphany this weekend was that it is NOT only the hours I work that exhaust me.  It's the hours I think I'm not working that wear me out!

The busier I get the more I seem to mentally process all the things I need to do at times when I should be disconnecting, relaxing, and giving my poor brain a rest.

Sure we could start talking about multi-tasking, over stimulation with news and information, fractured attention, and tons of things that erode our productivity and inhibit our ability to rejuvenate.

But for me...I'm going to start by taking one day completely off every week. 

What do you do to recharge your brain? Any suggestions? 

Comments

[Chris Baker]

I think the only solution is to do something absorbing and utterly different from work. Better still if it is a commitment that you won't frequently ditch in favour of just doing more work. Taekwondo for me - after a bad day it's nice to have a fight with a policeman (don't worry, he's one of my sparring partners).

[Ttcompanion]

When we are busy striving for towards any of our goals it is easy to quickly fill time (personal and business time) with activities which need to get done.

We do need to separate our time - if we don't we simply burnout.

For me I make sure I meditate regularly - if I don't keep that up I get less focused and less efficient - I also find that the ideas stop flowing.

[Michele]

We try to take at least one day a week to explore the world around us. We get in the car and search for a town or even just a road we haven't traveled on before. Maps are packed in the car but only used to get home. The trip out is all about random exploration.

These road trips have allowed us to meet many interesting people and discover all sorts of great places to visit. I'm the driver so paying attention to the roads doesn't allow much time for brooding. We live in a mountainous area and sometimes the roads can be more than a little tricky to navigate. But the long range views are really worth it.

[Jim Dean]

Being protective and nurturing of the need to relax is empowering. (Sometimes, relaxing means being free of responsibility, ANY responsibility, even simple polite conversation or making eye contact with strangers.) One needs to be assertive to just be left alone to be a happy, selfish mass for a few hours inbetween crushing responsibility. Being assertive about your need to vegetate and refuel means other people back off and respect that you need to process, laugh, or snuggle your pet until fuzzy and soft is no longer appealing and you can breath a sigh of snuggle-based relief.
I told my man that I needed to read and relax without interruption last Sunday. And when he started talking to me during hour 3 of the book-a-thon I said "Uh huh, that's nice. My brain is shut down." And tuned him out. I got a frantic and unavoidable e-mail, beeping on my phone. It was still early Sunday afternoon. I paused my reading, did not fully set my book down and replied "It's Sunday. Log in and read the announcement." This was the furthest extend of responsibility that day and afterward the mystery stress went away AND I had gotten three novels in WHILE getting fuzz-therapy snuggling time. Delicious. Thanks to my assertive announcement of a day off my man, instead of being maligned, was instead protective. "Wow--you weren't kidding that you needed to relax..." So he made me dinner. It was good, I was made happy.

[ann michael]

That does sound great! Lately I've had to weave my goofy fun into my work (just ask some of my clients!). But, you are completely right, there is no substitute for breaking away.

[Lettie Conrad]

So true! As we "grow up" we sometimes forget how to play. I recharge best with laughter & goofy fun.
Taoism teaches us that children are in higher states of enlightenment than adults, because they are connected to the joy of play & motivated by simple pleasures.
My husband is my playmate & best friend. He helps remind me to be silly & laugh. We take at least one day totally off from adult responsibilities every week. I'm most prepared to do good work again after some good solid playtime!