{"id":1783,"date":"2013-03-15T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T14:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidcprice.wordpress.com\/?p=1783"},"modified":"2013-03-15T09:00:59","modified_gmt":"2013-03-15T14:00:59","slug":"saving-daylight-part-3-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/saving-daylight-part-3-rest\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Daylight, Part 3: Rest"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>I want to finish this week of posts about “Saving Daylight” with some thoughts on rest.\u00a0 Friday is my day off; my day of rest.\u00a0 It’s the day that I have that I can get away from work, unplug “completely” and spend some time re-charging my batteries.\u00a0 So, as I write this, I’m kicked back with a cup of my home-roasted coffee, enjoying the sunshine and listening to chirping birds, welcoming in the springtime weather.<\/p>\n Now, I said “completely” in that way because there are times when situations arise that require my action or presence.\u00a0 That’s part of my job and is expected.\u00a0 Nevertheless, this is generally a day I protect fiercely.<\/p>\n What about you?\u00a0 Do you have time that is just YOURS?\u00a0 I wholeheartedly believe that if you are going to be the best you can be at what you do, you must master rest.<\/p>\n I didn’t always believe that.\u00a0 There was a time when I didn’t need rest.\u00a0 OK, there was a time when I didn’t know<\/em> I needed rest.\u00a0 I could go 24\u2026alright, maybe 21\/7.\u00a0 Rest was highly<\/em> over-rated.\u00a0 That all came to a screeching halt when I ended up in the CCU of a hospital with stressed-induced atrial fibrillation.\u00a0 After that, I learned to build rest or “sabbath-time” into my life.\u00a0 I practiced stress-management that kept me from getting to “that place” again.<\/p>\n Stress is like carbon monoxide: it’s deadly and odorless.\u00a0 You don’t always see it coming because it doesn’t always manifest itself in ways that you can detect until it’s too late.\u00a0 You don’t always get headaches or visible fatigue.\u00a0 Sometimes you do but you’re just too busy to notice them!\u00a0 So what do you do?<\/p>\n Build in TIME<\/strong><\/p>\n Point number 6 in Part 1<\/a> of this little series was the importance of finding and maintaining balance.\u00a0 That doesn’t happen unless you value rest.\u00a0 There must be down-time to help you set aside the busy-ness of life and evaluate where you are\u2026and maybe WHO you are!\u00a0 The biggest excuse I hear for not doing this is a lack of time.\u00a0 It didn’t take me long to realize spending three days in a hospital was a great waste of my time.\u00a0 If I can build in time of rest in order to prevent that kind of a waste of time, I’ll do it.\u00a0 More importantly, if resting can make me a better person while I’m doing all the necessary things in my life, I’ll do it.\u00a0 The question is, “How?”<\/p>\n Yearly, weekly and daily<\/strong><\/p>\n Most people get a week or two off each year for vacation.\u00a0 Take it!\u00a0 I’m amazed at how many people I talk to who haven’t taken advantage of their vacation time, sometimes in years!<\/p>\n Yearly, we need to take at least a few days away for a sort of sabbatical, giving the mind a chance to completely re-energize and re-focus.\u00a0 Even if you can’t afford to travel somewhere, take a stay-cation and at least unplug for a while.\u00a0 The world really will continue to turn and you will be better in your world for it.<\/p>\n Now, some use their vacation time for mission trips.\u00a0 Am I saying you shouldn’t do that?\u00a0 Absolutely not!\u00a0 What I’m saying is you need time away from what you normally<\/em> do.\u00a0 There may be no better way for you to re-charge than to change up the pace of what you are doing and spend a week serving people who desperately need it.\u00a0 I think that’s great and can be exactly what you need.\u00a0 I would go further and recommend, if it’s possible, to include the entire family.<\/p>\n