It’s okay to relax a little. Working schedules, parental schedules, social schedule and general difficulties that crop up in life can prevent us from doing so. This can lead to some serious issues winding down in the long term. However, if you’re unable to relax you will often find yourself lacking in a sense of recuperation. This can wear you out and blind you to the things that truly matter.
How can you get out of this? How can you improve it?
Well, we’d wholeheartedly recommend the following:
Schedules That Matter
The first line of this article threw some criticism towards the prospect of keeping schedules. Of course, this is not something that is ever possible to avoid if you hope to be a functional member of society, and a functional person at that. However, sometimes focusing on schedules that matter can be more worthwhile. This means allowing yourself to view your schedule as a friend and not an enemy. For example, your child’s 6 month old sleep schedule is not something you consider to be detrimental or overly disciplinary for them to adhere to, so long as you set certain parameters here.
Why not do the same with your own schedule? Plan some real relaxation time in the evenings, be that simply sitting and reading to a favourite musical mix, or a time to socialize during the week? Perhaps you can negotiate with your work to give you a morning off here or there, which will be achievable if you run the company or you have a high level position somewhere. Making your schedule work for you is conducive to relaxation and recuperating during the week.
Meditation & Yoga
It’s important to know why you’re relaxing. Is it to simply get away from the business of your life, or could it be more productive than that? Meditation and yoga are two of the methods you can use to absolutely allow yourself to become a better person. It allows you to come back to baseline, to see the fundamental driving force behind each action you take during the day. This is because it allows you to stay open and a proactive, rather than reactive force.
Many of us live our lives on autopilot from day to day, and while this might be useful to get through the commute or the boring aspects of our job, often it can feel just a little stifling.
When you meditate, you bring yourself back to the presence of your life and open yourself up for clarity and potential achievement. It sets you on the course of allowing yourself to relax to learn and be better than simply avoiding the responsibilities of your life. Just like the yin and yang symbol, both productive output and relaxation then becomes two sides of the same coin, with both sides contributing and feeding into one another with the most support available.
We’d recommend starting small, but sometimes utility in relaxation can be considered something done for your overall Good with a capital G.
