How do you rest? We all know we need rest, but that it can be hard to find, schedule, enjoy and protect. Resting doesn’t always come naturally, even though it should.
That’s what we’ll look at this week, because our strategies for rest don’t always work.
How many times have you said “I need a vacation?” Unfortunately, it’s not always the best thing for us! Did you know that studies have shown going on vacation, you face an increased risk of road or sports accidents, and depending on where you go, digestive ailments. Employees with high levels of stress show a greater incidence of colds, poor mood and minor physical ailments in the first three days of vacation.
Sometimes we need a vacation after the vacation. Earlier this year, my family had a return flight bumped on us, and we could move it to the day before or the day after, and either shorten our time away by a day or lengthen it. We loved our time away, and were having fun, but still voted to shorten it and enjoy a day or two of recovery from vacation before everyone went back to work and school.
We needed a vacation from the vacation!
Question: How do you find rest?
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Are you on vacation? If not, picture yourself there. If it helps, picture some vacation advertisements – a family walking on the beach hand in hand. A hammock and cold drink. A mountain, or a city, or whatever means rest to you!
It feels good, doesn’t it? It’s proven: in a study published in Journal of Occupational Medicine. Three days after vacation participants reported fewer physical complaints, a more positive mood, and better sleep.
But vacation can’t solve everything. The study found the big picture of life unchanged from vacation. There was no change to general life-satisfaction. Five weeks after the end of vacation only the extent of physical complaints was still significantly smaller as compared to the pre-vacation level. Everything else was back to normal. http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/3/167.full.pdf
So how do we really rest, if hopping on a plane, renting a cottage or vegetating at home just aren’t enough?
It means clearing our heads and hearts, but not by zoning out, bur rather by focusing them on something else….God!
We asked some people: what helps you clear your head on vacation?
Question: What helps you clear your head on vacation? How long does it take to distance yourself from work?
