Time Off

Don't work too hard.
Relax!
You're no use to anyone burnt out.

I hear these things often - and I agree with them. Totally.

But agreeing to them, and doing something about them are not the same thing...

I find it hard to turn off. I find it very hard to do either nothing (really, really not my thing) or something "unproductive". Both of these states lead to mental breakdowns for me.

So I keep myself busy. Work or writing/practicing/refining talks. Learning new tools or tech. Just doing something to keep me busy.

Until this week... I'm super busy at work, and was busy preparing for a new talk until Friday evening last week. But the talk was given, and I'm trying to make sure that I take enough time off with work (ha...). Add to that the fact the weather has been nice enough for us to set-up our pool. We bought it last year for our child. Honestly, I'm not even joking here! This isn't Lego! It was for him.

However, whilst the pool that we have is not big, at 2.4m and 70cm tall it still holds a lot of water. Too much to drain every couple of days to keep it clean, it's a waste of time, money and - of course - water. So over the last year I have had to get a minimal understanding of pool chemistry so that the pool can stay up all summer!

The upshot (and the reason I told the whole story )... We have a pool, heated by the sun, which we can use any time we want to!

So I do. Most days after I'm finished work, and before I need to cook. And I make sure to finish work in time to do that.

40 minutes floating in warm, clear water. Ebook in hand relaxing.

You see in the pool I have no distractions. I'm in the moment.

I'm not being distracted by the world around me. I'm not looking into the kitchen wondering if I should be cooking yet. I'm not being distracted by the programs being watched by others on TV.

I'm just in the pool, reading.

And I have noticed the change in energy levels after just doing this for a week.

Note: as I type this it's coming up for the end of the day, in a hot and stuffy attic and I have zero energy. It's not a perfect science 🤣)

I appreciate that I am in the luxury position of having a garden for the pool. But for the summer, in good(ish) weather at least, I plan on using it daily. Getting used to the feeling, and the feeling of taking time for me, and trying to make it a habit.

Later in the year I have the interesting task of finding something in home that replicates this feeling. But that is a job for later in the summer.

Right now it's time to learn to enjoy the feeling!

Ad as it's past 5pm as I type this, it's time to go and jump in!

Look after yourselves, and remember to allow time to take a break!

Cover photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

Inline picture by me 😁