Have a break – By @katyedelsten
By Katy Edelsten
Have a break.
Yonks ago, Marc recommended I read Kate Fox’s Watching the English. At some point, Fox talks about how ‘being busy’ is the new ‘ladies that lunch’. Busy-ness has become aspirational. Busy-ness has become something people want to be, and a way people value themselves. Because being busy means you’re wanted, and being busy means you provide something useful.
(She also says people have even started to value the hours in their free life like the hours of their job life; being paid hourly means that instinctively, when people give an hour to a lunch date, they are also calculating the cost of the time they are giving. Urgh)
Whattalota of pressure. Nottalota of fun.
Being super-busy-always-on-the-go is actually really not good at all.
Working until you break isn’t a sustainable way to live.
Working more doesn’t mean working better.
So be super productive. Be effective.
Have a break.
And be single minded about it.
Focus on it like you would with work.
Take as much care of yourself as you would with work.
Give yourself a break before you have a breakdown.
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Available break-ish activities include;
Hide your to-do list.
Hide your phone.
Hide your laptop.
Go home.
Go see your family.
Go see your friends. Hell, make some new friends. There are so many people out there.
See the people you live with.
Meditate. However you like to.
Daydream.
Nap and really dream.
Wander around aimlessly.
Wonder around aimlessly.
Talk a walk.
Talk a run.
Spend hours doing basically nothing.
Spend hours doing actually nothing.
Listen to music. Actually listen to it.
Sit in bed. Sit up in bed. Sit on the bed. Sit around the bed.
Ring someone you haven’t spoken to in forever. Even better if you have no news for them at all.
Stay inside without a purpose.
Go outside without a purpose.
Doodle.
Read that book you’ve been meaning to read.
Do the things you say you like doing, but actually never do.
And listen to yourself.
Stop yourself when you’re saying ‘I don’t have time to have a break’ and question it.
Why don’t you?
Breaks help our minds solve problem through daydreaming.
When we daydream our brain activity actually increases.
And because daydreaming allows for a relaxed state of mind, it lets your brain retain information and make valuable connections. Daydreaming produces breakthrough ideas that seemingly come from nowhere.*
Who doesn’t have time to get to the right answer quicker?
So, have a break this Easter and have a better time for it.
Kit Kats optional**.
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*(actually called ‘diffuse mode thinking’)
**recommended
