Life is a balancing act
Americans need to vacation more
This column appeared in the Oct. 7th issue of the Pageland Progressive Journal.
By KIMBERLY HARRINGTON
Editor
My vacation was two weeks ago but I am still reeling from my
mini-adventure.
My body is here but my thoughts sometime wander to somewhere
over the Atlantic Ocean, where turquoise and sapphire waters kiss white sandy
beaches, where Bahama Mamas are always on deck and free spirits blow in the
wind like tumbleweeds.
Ask any family member or close friend of mine and they will
tell you how much I believe in balance. For every dollar earned, a dollar
spent. For every hour worked, an hour played. For every “need” met, a “want”
accomplished. For every love lost, a new love found. You get the picture.
Being that way keeps me content, satisfied and happy. I’m
usually very good at keeping that balance in my life until this year.
I started this new job as editor in February and dived right
into it. Three months later, my mother suffered from a slew of health problems
that kept me on the road a lot to and from her hospital bed in Concord.
Then I had to direct my focus on getting my nephew/godson
into college – a decision he made at the very last minute. This meant coming up
with balances due minus financial aid, buying overpriced books and snatching up
last minute supplies. Not to mention standing in line all day during the final
orientation as my brain went into information overload.
Then my mother suffered another health crisis, losing sight
in her right eye.
Now she is living home with limited vision, which
necessitated a family meeting – and you know how those can go.
Gotta love 'em, though.
After all was said and done, I agreed to move back with my
mother temporarily. (That’s another column.)
So when my brother and his girlfriend broke up, and he asked
if I wanted to take his already-booked cruise to the Bahamas, I considered it
divine intervention to get me back centered. (God works in mysterious ways. The
two of them are both ministers and who knows what sparks would have ignited on
that ship.)
We processed the transfer and voilá, I was on my first
cruise since 1995. I prefer flying to my destinations and getting all-inclusive
packages so a cruise was a different twist.
Without giving you play by play, let me just say this
vacation with my best friend, Patricia, was not particularly one for R&R. I
didn’t sleep much, had two too many Bahama Mamas, ate like I had a high
metabolism, danced like no one was watching, played in the water like a toddler,
posed in pictures like super models, made new friends, slept at highway rest
areas, and laughed til it hurt.
I had the time of my life.
After months of living on the edge, I jumped off – giving me
back my balance.
My late night anxiety attacks have calmed. My stress level
has evened out. It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Everybody needs balance and more vacations. As a country, we
work longer hours and take less vacations than any other industrialized country
in the world.
A study released in August by Travel Effect, a project of
the U.S. Travel Association, revealed that 40 percent of American workers will
leave paid vacation days unused.
Tony Schwartz, chief executive officer of the Energy Project, says, “the best
way to get more done may be to spend more time doing less.” Living a life in
which we work all the time and never prioritize recharging simply isn't
sustainable – not for individuals, and not for companies either.
It’s OK, people, to relax a little and not feel guilty about
it.
One of my own favorite
columns is about a man I worked for at a hospital. It was his first job as
chief executive officer and he was torn between climbing the corporate ladder
of success, which meant long days and no weekends, to spending time with his
new wife and child. After about six months on the job, he chose the latter.
The following is
an excerpt from that column I wrote five years ago:
“Too many times
we live unbalanced lives. We work more than we play. We eat at our desk more
than we do at our dinner table at home. We wear more dress shoes and pumps than
flip flops. We spend more time at work than we do with the ones we love.
It may sound
cliché, but at the end of our lives, it’s time with our loved ones that will
envelope our thoughts and bring us comfort. It will be the times where we
played more that will give us reason to smile.
Over the years, I’ve been given some
great advice from successful professional leaders that I take to heart and try
to live by: Don’t take work home with you; sometimes you’ve got to be selfish
and put yourself first; work hard, not long; and work to live, not live to work.
True balance is
getting up in the morning and putting on your work shoes, but knowing when to
take them off and slip on your favorite pair of flip flops.”
Balance for you may not be a trip to the Bahamas. It may simply
be a day off in your pajamas watching movies, getting home in time for dinner,
or having a date night with your spouse.
To quote a poster on Pinterest: Never get so busy making a
living that you forget to make a life.