What's a good break?

[00:00:00] You are listening to the Daily Five, an experimental podcast by Aurooba, where I talk about something for five minutes. So let's get to it, shall we? This episode is coming to you in the middle of the day, because for the life of me, I could not get up this morning – I was so tired. part of it is the effect of fasting and it's a temporary tiredness, but for the moment that is where I am.

[00:00:36] I decided to take a break yesterday and virtually watch bits and pieces of a conference and otherwise binge two shows on Netflix. Yes, two shows. Contrary to what you might think, instead of feeling recharged, it just made me feel more drained. And contributed to, you know, me feeling more tired this morning.

[00:01:02] So if that's not a good way to take a break, then what is? This is going to sound a little ridiculous, but stick with me for a second. When you charge your phone, your phone is actively pulling in electricity and doing a whole crazy process in its battery to generate and store power that it can rely on when you use it later.

[00:01:29] Recharging is an active process that requires effort. It's not passive in the least. Binge watching a show on Netflix is mostly a passive act for me. Don't get me wrong, I think it probably is a re-energizing activity for some people, but it isn't for me, because those shows don't really add any kind of value to my life.

[00:01:55] So does the act of recharging need to add value to your life? Hmm. I think we need to think of resting, or I think we do think of resting as doing nothing or not having to expend emotional, mental, or physical energy. And that's true – the act of resting should be net positive when it comes to energy, not net negative.

[00:02:25] So what activities bring you energy? I started to think about the things that energize. Mm. Reading a book, a really good book. Taking a long walk, playing Oxygen Not included. Some kind of spiritual practice. Weightlifting, yoga, having a long, long chat with my mom, smoking shisha with my brother, playing a co-op game with my spouse.

[00:02:55] Exploring new spaces or places with my spouse. All these things are active. There's nothing mind numbing about them. I definitely expend energy doing these things, but the energy outcome of these activities is net positive with me feeling a return of more energy than I used. I think sometimes we resort to watching shows because it's easy, because we don't wanna make the effort to expend energy.

[00:03:24] So maybe to avoid falling into the trap of doing things that aren't net positive energy-wise, we should make those activities that re-energize us easier to start or do. When I was young, I insisted on having a very particular size of purse, a purse that was just large enough to carry an ebook reader or a standard size book, and I carried my reader and or a book with me everywhere.

[00:03:52] That's really all I'd have in my purse too. A minimalist wallet, a book or e-reader, and my phone. I made it easy for myself to crack open a book and read anywhere I was, at any moment. Nowadays, I think most of us reach for a phone and open up a social media app because it's easy and it's draining. You know, the things that are good for us are sometimes harder to just do than that.

[00:04:23] So maybe it's, we're thinking about what a good break is for you and maybe doing the work to make that stuff easier to reach for or start, so that when we rest, it actually re-energizes us.

[00:04:45] Thanks for listening. Talk to you tomorrow.