Beware the barrenness of a busy life.

Beware the barrenness of a busy life. – Socrates

Baby has it figured out. Take the time to smell the roses.

What does that mean?
To me, this saying has real meaning.  I tend to be overly busy, with too many projects working at the same time.  It’s kind of like the saying about taking time to smell the roses.  If you’re too busy, you don’t see as much of the beauty we walk through.  We all need time to relax and unwind, to de-stress, to decompress, to chill or whatever metaphor is currently the preferred way to express the classic “rest & relaxation.”

Why is relaxation important?
Life is stressful.  Always more things to do than there are hours to do them.  Plus you have to allocate time for sleeping, eating and all the other little things that eat up your day.  Man, I’m getting stressed just describing it!

Let’s try that again.  If you allow yourself little to no relaxation, you will burn out.  You will become frazzled, ragged around the edges and eventually have a nervous breakdown, an ulcer or a heart attack (depending on which system is your weakest link).  Do you feel any increase in your stress level just thinking of these things?

Relaxation is how the body, mind and spirit renew themselves.  Some use meditation, others curl up with a good book.  Some unwind in front of the TV.  Others play video games or on their computers.  Music, both listening and playing, is another relaxing thing for some.

Depending on the weather and your preferences, going outside might be just the thing, whether a gentle rain, the warmth of the sun, a cool crisp breeze, a hellacious thunderstorm or a starry night.  Do you feel more relaxed just reading and imagining some of these things?

Where can I apply this in my life?
Right now, I have a hard drive for my pictures and videos waiting to be formatted and mapped, I have a Network Attached Storage drive undergoing modification to mitigate a heat problem, I’m updating an older laptop from WEP to WAP2, setting up a temporary WEP network for my kids to use for their DS games and updating an old Linux box.

And that’s just my computers here at home.  I’m also doing this blog, several web sites for my kid’s school, playing chauffeur for the kids, avoiding yard work (grass needs mowing & several bushes need pruning) and all the other things as well.

How many of you have ever had to work through your days off, and do seven to ten days in a row at work without a day off?  It really gets to you, doesn’t it?  How about a 60 to 80 hour week?  How about when you start stacking “half days” (12 hour shifts) for a few weeks, even with a day or two off each week?

How much joy is there in your life?  In the morning, how long do you sit in the car before you can force yourself to turn the key and head back in to work?  Did your life feel a bit desolate or barren?  Does the saying make a little more sense, with these ideas running through your head?

If you haven’t been brutalized by work in the manners described above, consider yourself lucky.  But work isn’t the only place that can crush your soul (how’s that for a depressing metaphor?).  How many have been the taxi service for kids or relatives?

How about volunteer work, where you seem to be the only one doing much of anything?  Head of or at least on, most of the committees, putting in long hours, planning and executing, coordinating and accessorizing, pulling it all together at the last minute.  Sound familiar?

And that’s just one volunteer group.  Then add the work you do with your kid’s school, the local food bank and whatever projects you are doing at home (both hobbies and improvements).  Are you feeling a little tired or stressed just reading what I wrote?  I know I am.

Think of how you felt just reading the paragraphs above.  Perhaps visualization could help you relax.  Can you think of a time when you were supremely relaxed?  Can you picture it in your head?  Can you hear it, smell it, feel it, taste it?  Can you make it bigger, brighter, full of vibrant color, magnify the sounds, scents, flavors and tactile portions of it?  Do you feel more relaxed now?  It might take a little practice, but this can be a powerful tool for a super quick “mental vacation.”

So, now that we have a few ideas of how stress enters each of our lives, let’s take a moment to think of the 3 or 4 most effective stress relievers for you.  Well, let’s skip the 3 week vacation to someplace fabulous (how ever that might be defined for you).  Let’s try to find things that don’t take too much time, since we never have enough of that to begin with.  And let’s try to keep it cheap, since money (at least for most of us) isn’t something we can throw at every problem.

For me, the top four are (in no particular order)
1) making or modifying things (wood, plastic, computers, metal, whatever)
2) lying down, relaxing, and listening to music
3) watching science shows on TV
4) martial arts

What does your list contain?  How many can change your stress level in half an hour?  How about an hour?  Use this list as a starting point for a regimen of de-stressing.  When you get stressed to a certain point, schedule half an hour to do something to help you relax.  By doing something you enjoy, you get a little joy to go with the relaxation.

Some things can be done almost anywhere, listening to music, as an example (at least judging from all the headphones and ear-buds I see around me).  Put together a playlist or two to help.  You might want to save the play list with the stuff you sing and dance to for private settings, and have another that you can listen to at work or in the car.

Speaking of “in the car,” how many of you put your time in the car to productive use?  Do you talk to your kids?  Do you listen to a book on tape?  Do you learn something or use the time to relax from the stress of going to work?  As another aside, I read that Monday Mornings had a significantly higher rate of heart attacks, as people started stressing about their work week before they even got there!  Could you put together some songs to listen to on the drive in to help you arrive refreshed and ready to tackle the day?

When else do you have down time?  Do you keep a book handy?  Do you carry an e-reader or use your phone to read books?  Try not to hit news sites or other places on the web that will increase your stress level.  Think about it – how many of you know someone who relaxes by reading the political section of a newspaper or e-paper?  That’s some concentrated stress right there!

As I said at the top, take time to smell the roses.  Make plans to help you deal with a quick stress relief and deeper stress relief.  And don’t forget to smile.

From: Twitter, undocumented feed (my bad)
confirmed at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/socrates133712.html
Photo by Mike and Kelly Schellhouse