Crazy! Hectic! Restless! Synonyms! We had plenty of time to decompress during the initial months of COVID-19 precautions, but now as we move forward and seemingly backwards in our daily lives, it helps to relax some. This crazy year isn’t over yet, so we better remember to relax and keep ourselves grounded.
This subject has been written about previously, but it bears mentioning again: a 40 hour/week job is a part-time job. Our full-time jobs are taking care of ourselves and our families physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and more. As someone who used to work 84+ hours a week and still found time for extra activities on the side, I can say that it is absolutely doable. We need to have the mental fortitude to take action! Complacency is the root of all evil, and being complacent is habit that is harder to kick than it is to pick up.
How should we relax? Relaxing doesn’t necessarily mean sitting around in front of a TV or computer. “Relaxation” should be seen as an escape from work. Take hobbies such as woodworking, playing instruments, or exercising. People who do such things are not idle, but that busy-ness is a change from the normal routine and can certainly be relaxing. On the other hand, different hobbies such as reading, learning a new language, or playing video games are easier on the body. With the holidays coming up, relaxing will take the form of cleaning the house, decorating, and changing the mindset from “work, work, work” to “celebrate and feast”.
We need to be careful about the ways we trick ourselves into relaxing. Social media, though not demanding in any way, is harmful to us in large amounts. The overstimulation of pointless minutiae, especially mixed with the uncertainty of the election that we are seeing these days, is not relaxing for anyone. I recently came across a “news” story shared by a radio station that discussed one member of a bad country band “unfollowed” another on some social media. As if anyone needs to know or should even care about something like that. But gossip-y stories like this, or attention-grabbing headlines for articles with no details, are everywhere, clouding our heads and thoughts. It can be hard to remember what’s important when we are bombarded with people, mainstream media, local news outlets, and more giving their poorly-thought opinions that no one asked for.
Moving into the weekend, let’s keep in mind what matters to us. Family, friends, hobbies, personal health, personal enrichment, and finding the good in our days. More importantly, let’s remind ourselves what doesn’t matter: Pretty much anything on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and whatever Parler is. Also, let’s move away from listening to, sharing, or even thinking about what celebrities think about what’s best for us. Besides the major differences in traits such as income, wealth, and where they live, we can all think for ourselves. No one needs to know what some singer or actor thinks about social issues, since they tend to be a bit more insulated than us normal folks. Enjoy the weekend!
Bayou Observant 