Life isn’t merely meant to be survived. I’ve noticed that attitude among people more and more as I get older. They just merely want to get through the day and start the next one. Like some overly complicated maze that we as rats have to run round to get our daily cheese.
Living life this way is damaging. I don’t care how stress free your life is or how mentally tough you are. This will damage you over time. We build up toxic and damaging “mental gunk” in our thought processes. We unconsciously develop bad mental habits and corrosive attitudes.
Vacations aren’t merely luxuries or a foolish waste of time. They serve a very real purpose. Even if it consists merely of sitting on the couch and watching TV for an extended period of time, you need to step back from that routine that you’ve worked out for yourself and you need time to consider.
Consider if this is where you really want to be going in life. Whether what you’re doing in your life is really the best thing to do or whether you should change your routine. But mainly you need to unplug and relax.
Consider the mind at work or in its routine as an athlete that gets no rest. All the time going and going and going. Like some sort of marathon runner. Even the most adept and determined runner will hit a wall from time to time and not be able to continue racing. The results are not pretty. Recovery is a long and arduous process.
Why then do Americans have such an adversarial relationship with vacations? We have the shortest vacation time on average of all the industrialized world. I feel that some people almost feel ashamed of taking time off. Will the world end if you take some time off? I can assure you that this ball of rock and metal that we live on won’t fall apart if you take some time off.
So you still need to justify it? Vacation with a purpose then. Make it a vacation tailored to meet your relaxing and therapeutic needs. Take yoga classes, mud baths or massages, learn a new hobby or sport. Visit a place that you’ve never been before or would normally never go to.
Most of all realize that you weren’t meant to live inside a cubicle or air-conditioned building.
Recent Comments