Today my boyfriend and I relaxed around the house and didn't make an attempt at anything that remotely resembled work. It was great. It made me think that maybe, just maybe we would live longer if we took one day each week and made it a day of rest. During this day, there would be no work and no stress. If stressful thoughts began to creep in, then they would need to be expelled immediately.
I had a realtor once who refused to work or take calls on Saturdays. She made this quite clear when she signed up my property. In fact, she said that she would work 150% on trying to sell my house the other six days in the week, but on Saturday she wouldn't even take my calls. I discovered that she was a very successful and focused realtor. What was her secret? I believe it was time off to refresh and recuperate.
In the biblical sense we are told that the seventh day is to be a day of rest. I believe our ancestors were much better at adhering to that rule than we are today. Honestly, we just can't help it. For example, working parents often use the weekends and Sunday as a time to catch up around the house. It is a time to do laundry, home repairs, house cleaning, and then they try to squeeze in some quality time with the kids. My hat is off to them, and I am amazed at how well working parents juggle everything. Isn't it sad that we have created a society where people work so hard and so much that they can't take a day off to relax and recuperate? During the campaign, John McCain kept saying how America has the best workers. That may be true, but it is sometimes at the expense of our mental/physical health, functional families, loving relationships, and quality of life.
I think our bodies, and more importantly our minds, were designed to have time to rest and recuperate. Life is already short enough, we shouldn't make it any shorter by stressing ourselves to death. I wish I could follow the message in this post, but it is Sunday night and I have laundry to do, dishes to clean, and maybe if I hurry I can get the bathroom scrubbed before bed.
