Making time

It may seem odd but I have found that when you’re the busiest and have the least time, that’s when you need most of all to have some time off for yourself.

I can’t claim to be the busiest person I know.  I know plenty of other people who are busier but I’m no slouch.  I’m basically up and moving around from four in the morning till 10:30 at night.  I have a ton work and family things to do and I never have enough time.

Work, exercise, and home life take up my time during the week.  In what few time gaps I get I do every day chores and take care of things that need to be done but I always keep busy.

Sometimes it seems that the weekdays roll into each other and that my “morning” began on Monday and my “afternoon” ended on Friday.  Not that healthy for a person to do that all the time.

The weekends have their own set of responsibilities but it’s not as hectic as the week so I use them for what they were meant to be used.  I take a “break” from the weekly grind and I try to do something different.

Doesn’t really matter what you do.  Go clubbing, a hobby, go dancing, read for an evening.  The point of a “break” is just that.  To break the monotony of the routine and let the pressure on your mind ease up.  Let it breathe a bit.

Don’t kid yourself that you can keep going all out all the time.  Maybe you could when you were in your twenties or even your thirties.  But one thing I’ve found that in my forties that I can’t keep doing that all the time.  It gets unhealthy not to let the pressure off your mind.  You start missing obvious problems, you start accepting “less than the best” efforts, you get despondent.  I find that over time my dynamic thinking skills deteriorate and I start just doing the “wash, rinse, and repeat” type of cycle every day.  Unless you work at a fast food place that’s no way to work.

Think of this as maintenance or a tune up for your mind and body.  A way to keep going throughout the year at peak efficiency.  This is probably the cheapest way that you can keep yourself going without having to take a full-blown vacation.