Feeling as if there aren’t enough hours in the day? Hitting the ground running as soon as you are out of bed? Long day at work plus other activities awaiting you and your family in the evening? Well, blame the Puritans (those folks who came here on the Mayflower). Blame the Protestant work ethic. Blame the Biblical book of Proverbs and the apostle Paul for all their admonitions against idleness. The work ethic came from a time where days of long labour were balanced by going to bed when the sunset because there was no electric light, meaning that you got 10 or more hours of sleep. The hard labour of summer and fall was balanced by a slower and more restful winter season.
But we got the “Work hard. Idle hands get into trouble” philosophy handed down to us at the same time as technology has advanced so that we can work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (366 each leap year – we don’t even get that as a day of rest). I remember in high school, just as microwaves and other “time-saving” devices were starting to be marketed for home use, that we were told that we would be the first generation that would have more leisure time than work time in our lives and, in our classes, focus was given to ways we could use our leisure time.
But, now, almost 40 years post high school, I’m still waiting. Somehow that whole scenario of “time-saving” devices giving us more leisure hours has never materialized. I think it is getting worse. I see more and more people who face demands for longer hours at work. E-mail and smart-phones have brought the expectation that we will be connected 24 hrs a day and will provide instantaneous responses to whoever messages us – regardless of whether the message really is urgent.
This week I found an article, “How Charles Darwin Used Rest to Be More Productive!” Using rest to be more productive – what a novel idea! Author Alex Pang, in his book “The Distraction Addiction,” says that many of the most creative and productive thinkers have work only 4 hours a day. And most make sure that serious rest is also part of the schedule. They often get more hours of sleep a night than the average person, and afternoon naps are frequently part of their schedules. Highly acclaimed scientist, Charles Darwin, after his 4 hours of work took long walks on his “thinking path,” as he called it. Charles Dickens walked about, wandering through the countryside, 10 miles a day, not to get fit, but to have space, to just be.
The work ethic drilled into our minds and our routines from childhood is not serving us. More people report high levels of stress & exhaustion. New studies show that long hours sitting, at school or work, are ruining our health. It’s time for a reset on our beliefs about working hard and idle hands.
While we may not have control over our work schedules or our child’s hours at school, we can make choices as a family. What is the space that you create for your kids and yourself to just be? It might be eating together at the table, with time for conversation or a family game. It might a long, leisurely walk. It might be letting go of activities – did you know that boredom leads to the most creativity? Where are the places where you and your kids can just be, the places where you don’t have to feel as if you have to accomplish or achieve anything? Where do you care for your spirits?
I like to be active, but I know that it is in the time I spend knitting, or lost in a book with a cup of tea beside me, or out walking when my best ideas come. Where is your “thinking path?” Do your kids have the space and time to discover their “thinking path”, their space to just be and care for their spirits? It’s not what is encouraged but something we can choose for our kids & ourselves.
We are either a conduit for the stresses of the world or a buffer from the stresses for our child. Alphie Kohn
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