Coding, Managing and Christianity

The Moment

We are on a long weekend trip to Toronto as a family right now. It is a trip of a few firsts: The first time in Toronto, which by the way is a great city, lots to do and see. The first time in an Airbnb and we were totally lucky. What a great apartment! The first time as a family on a road trip, since my son left for college.

One afternoon after some sightseeing my wife and I had some time and we sat on the couch chatting. It didn’t feel right and after some talking I realized that I’m antsy, guilty that I’m just sitting here and not doing something productive. Feeling bad, that I don’t make the most out of the precious little vacation time I have. We live in a world where we are so conditioned to be productive. Being busy and running around is a sign of honor. Doing something defines us.

Talking about it and acknowledging helped and I could let it go. It was enough to just sit here, enjoy the beautiful view on down town Toronto, massage my wife’s feet and do NOTHING. Just nothing was enough for the moment and it felt good. Sometimes it is just a decision away.

There is enough research that says in order to be productive and creative we need enough rest. There are plenty of people with great achievements, that only worked for half of the day. Of course I can’t think of some examples right now. Maybe I find the article again but if memory serves me right Darwin was one of them. What they all have in common is that they were very disciplined about it, like getting up early followed by focused work, before having deliberate down times where they were doing things they enjoyed. I suppose that Germany being one of the most productive countries in the world, while having a 38 hours work week and, on average, 24 to 30 paid vacation days is not a coincidence either.

That is a long way of saying, take a break once in a while and spend some time doing nothing and enjoy it. Even God took a rest after 6 days of work to enjoy his creation.