Pathwalking 33
Even when walking a chosen path, you need to rest from time to time.
Everyone needs to take a break. We all need moments to rest the mind, and to relax and simply be.
Pathwalking can still be stressful. Certainly by design less stressful than an everyday life, but stress still exists. Pathwalking is about taking action, and action, even action we desire to take, can still have a toll on us.
And so, from time to time, you need to take a break. Rest from the road. Pause, on purpose, and rest.
It is not easy to do. When your mind is almost always in motion, forcing yourself to rest and take a break can seem wrong. It can seem like you might miss something.
Outside results may appear to others as though you are not putting in the same effort as they are. You aren’t making the same money, perhaps, or the time you are at work seems to be less. And that can add a complex of guilt to the need to take a break. But without a rest, a real rest, you may face a breakdown.
Rest is not simply sleep. I think everyone knows what its like to sleep, but not become rested from that. This is the nature of rest where you allow the mind, the body, and the spirit to have a break. Not just a few minutes here and there, I mean a solid, several-day break.
Our culture has become obsessed with working hard. All the messages tell us to work harder, put in overtime, nose to the grindstone, faster, more more more. But there is a key difference between working harder, and working smarter. But in the world of hourly salaries, smarter doesn’t pay like longer and harder does. And that is unfortunate.
Studies have been made that have shown that productivity increases when workers get breaks, get vacations, are allowed to take real rests. From what I have seen, the best corporate jobs are not the punch in, work your ass off, punch out jobs…they are the jobs where you get more value for your work, incentives to work smarter, and a chance to take time to rest from the job. But this is becoming increasingly lost in rhetoric and greed.
Part of why I have chosen to walk my own path is because I believe there is more to life than this model. I WANT to work, I want to earn my keep, but not at the expense of my sanity, my health and my wellbeing. I am an averagely educated person, I have a college degree, I have over 15 years of so-called “professional” experience. But in the current culture, what I should be capable of commanding from a corporate job versus what I can actually get are quite out-of-whack.
I believe I have more to offer this world than to be a member of the 40+ hour workers, manning a phone and taking abuse because of the corporate overlords I work for, and the decisions they make. I think I deserve to be content in my job, to have time apart from work for play, and to not dread the majority of my waking hours. And I know I am not alone in this desire.
All too often, having chosen what I have, I feel that I have to justify to the world my choices. Why do you need a vacation, you’re not working a ‘normal’ job? How can you be stressed out, you’re not a corporate drone anymore. Can you afford to take a break, given the state of your finances? Don’t you think you should stop this foolish notion, and go back to school/a real job?
I can imagine some may mistake choosing Pathwalking for that small percentage of unmotivated souls who do not work at all, perhaps spending the day playing video games or watching movies or what-have-you. I believe that most of the people who live this way have chosen to make no choice at all. Walking your own path involves work. We all need to take a rest from work.
Another counter argument to this point is that, according to the Law of Inertia, a body at rest tends to stay at rest. But the human machine needs to be recharged. We are not able to go go go constantly, without resting. And that goes beyond sleep, which is for the body; or meditation, which is for the spirit or soul; or reading for the mind. We need to do things that provide rest for all three, and let us truly recharge our batteries to carry on.
Pathwalking will mean different things for different people…for some, it IS that corporate job I personally loathe…and that’s ok, too. But no matter who you are, or what you do…if you do not rest, you cannot continue to function indefinitely without some sort of breakdown.
A breakdown takes many forms. An illness. Backaches. Headaches. Depression. Insomnia. A lack of concentration. Limited patience and focus. Restlessness…and countless other unpleasant issues. All of these destroy your ability to DO. And doing is what Pathwalking, arguably what LIFE is all about.
And so, even a Pathwalker needs to rest from time to time. Neglecting to rest the mind, body and spirit might cause you to stumble from the path, may add unnecessary difficulties to the journey. It is important to allow yourself to rest, in order to renew your vigor and energy to take on the path ahead.
What have you done to re-energize yourself lately?
This is the thirty-third entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Thank you for joining me.
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