Having run aground on the lurking sands of exhaustion, I decided that this week was time to take a break. Medical appointments aside (I had three in a row – they come like buses), I was going to spend my days doing, well, nothing.
Modern life frowns on such idleness. Our shops are open seven days a week and often far into the evening; commutes stretch from year to year; the forty hour week, so long fought for, has become the stuff of dreams.
Worse, with so many working excessive hours during the week, their weekends are spent on housework, DIY and shopping – hardly a way to rest and restore oneself. So the week rolls on with barely time to draw breath.
Remember the Sabbath day
Our ancestors knew better. Though they worked hard and almost certainly six days a week, they took the seventh to rest. Sabbath comes from the word Shabbath, which translates either as ‘a day of rest’ or ‘to stop or cease’. Either way, the meaning is clear. It’s time to lay down your work and relax.
Throughout history, in the major religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Sabbath has also been a day of religious observance. In our more secular world, church attendance may not be for you, but it doesn’t mean we should disregard the essence of this time of reflection. Gratitude for the beauty of the natural world; thanks for blessings; prayers for the well-being of others and quiet reflection is not restricted to the observant: it is vital for all.
We need time to refuel both our bodies and minds. Interestingly, the seven day cycle of work and rest is the ideal one.
A Russian experiment
For eleven years, under Stalin’s rule, Russia instated a continuous working week, or nepreryvka. Each employee would work for five days and have the sixth off. The problem was that each employee was working under his own cycle, so that though a husband may have that day off, his wife may not. Despite having more free days, people were unhappy. Their family time was in chaos and religious observance impossible (both probably secondary aims to increased production.) Eventually, the scheme was scrapped. https://www.history.com/news/soviet-union-stalin-weekend-labor-policy
During the French Revolution, they brought in a ten day week (equally unsuccessful) and historically, the length of a week has been varied. However, with the world so interconnected, the Western standard of a seven day week has become the norm.
Numerous European countries are experimenting with a four-day work week (assuming that productivity is maintained at 100%), so perhaps our rest days will increase in the future. Sounds like an excellent plan to me.
More days than most
Sadly, one day of rest per week is not enough for me. This last week I needed five. Two were spent fairly comatose, the other three in a state of determination to do nothing. Of course, I didn’t actually do nothing, but giving myself permission to do only what I felt capable of seemed like the same thing. I read, I crafted, I went to bed early. As a result, I now feel completely human again and ready for the busy finale to the week.
Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
This morning, I spoke to my adorable MS nurse about the frustrations of fatigue and she understood. Joy! It isn’t tiredness – it’s your brain worn out by continuously rerouting signals around the road blocks of lesions. But give it time and rest, and it will recover. I only need to remember not to take advantage of it.
This is so hard. Who wants to be the one always saying ‘no’ to things? I don’t want to miss anything either.
But then I console myself. My emergency trip to the doctor on Monday showed my fears of Lyme disease were unfounded (though whatever giant beastie bit me in Maine remains a mystery!) My dentist and MS were happy with me, and I feel utterly privileged to live in a country where such excellent healthcare is available.
Somehow I’ll need to work on scheduling life so that so many Do Nothing Days will become unnecessary. This is definitely a work in progress.
For those of you in good health and busy always, don’t forget to keep space for a Do Nothing Day. After all, you’ve earned it.