We have all faced it. That urge to leave everything and shut off from the world for some time…put all the stresses on hold…throw away our phone and detach from every being we know. At times like this, we all wish we could be relaxing on a cruise, or hiking on the mountains, wine tasting in the south of France, or surfing in Hawaii. However, in reality, we cannot really drop everything as we struggle to find a balance between taking time off and being productive and also enjoying new experiences. Taking time off from our excruciating work schedules might seem impossible but its importance is difficult to neglect.
Our body and mind require timely if not occasional breaks from the daily routine in order to strike a healthy balance and prevent burnout which we are all prone to in today’s fast-paced world.
If we are continuously working, it’s natural that our productivity will decline. According to a study by the Institute for the Study of Labor, the weekly maximum for productivity is 55 hours. Although you would be expected to put in more hours, 54 hours a week is roughly equivalent to 80 hours a week in terms of productivity.
When concentrating on the “getting, making, and doing” of daily job work, very few people come up with large, amazing, original ideas. It’s simple to become fixed in one style of thinking when you’re very concentrated (as in task work). A phenomenon known as “diffuse thinking” comes into play while you’re engaged in other activities (i.e., in your free time), allowing the brain to process considerably more data simultaneously. More connections between ideas or occurrences result from this, which is advantageous for developing novel ideas and innovations.
Travelling is one such way to unwind yourself as it helps one to take a break from reality and discover new places too. The feeling of leaving behind the stressful work and taking time to go and explore new places is a fosters excitement and tranquility. Travelling will not only help as a stress relieving activity but also helps one to take a step back and gain better clarity on their aspirations and increase their creativity. It also helps one to be with loved ones together and spend quality time with them.
While it may never be realistic for one to have the perfect work-life balance, it is the little things that we do that can help us maintain a good and healthy life. Learning when one needs to unplug and unwind is a necessity as it ensures we don’t push ourselves to extensive limits. We have to ensure that there’s always time available to spend with our loved ones and also take the time to be by ourselves and relax our mind and body. By keeping track of the goals that we need to achieve, maintaining to-do lists with set timings for breaks and being patient with oneself definitely helps in the process. After all, it’s not always about doing, sometimes simply being is enough.
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