The last couple months of my last semester at college were quite busy with final projects, tests, and other responsibilities. Fortunately, my graduation was at the beginning of May and I scheduled my first day of work for June 29th. This gives me almost 2 months without any serious responsibilities. I think this is pretty important for me because it allows me to be rested and refreshed when I start my job. Now, I'm not sitting around and doing nothing with my time off. I've been working out quite a bit, playing sports as much as possible, researching a couple new business ideas, working on my blog, and catching up on some books I've been wanting to read.
One of those books I recently read was The Rhythm of Life by Matthew Kelly. I highly recommend it to anyone because it contains a lot of useful tips on how to make your life better. One piece of advice that I'd like to point out are Kelly's Three Instruments to find your rhythm in life. The three instruments are:
1. Make sleep a priority
2. Find an hour a day for reflection in silence or prayer
3. Always take one day a week to forget about work and find creative ways to relax
I won't get into the reasoning behind the first two instruments, but the third was interesting to me because I haven't really set aside a day to forget about work. In college, whenever things got really busy the weekend was usually the time for me to catch up on work and get some things done. The problem with that is there is never a time to recharge and be fully prepared for the next week of work. I particular liked a story that Kelley told in the book.
"There once lived a man whose name was Jude. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ and was renowned throughout the region as a wise and deeply spiritual man. People traveled great distances, venturing across foreign lands to seek his advice and healing. One day Jude was relaxing outside his hut when a hunter came by. The hunter was surprised to see Jude relaxing and rebuffed him to loafing. It was not the hunter's idea of what a holy man should be doing.
Jude recognized these thoughts running through the hunter's mind and also noticed that the man carried a bow for hunting. "What is your occupation, sir?" Jude asked. "I am a hunter," the man replied. "Very good," Jude said. "Bend your bow and shoot an arrow." The man did so. "Bend it again and shoot another arrow." said Jude. The hunter did so, again and again. Finally he complained, "Father, if I keep my bow always stretched, it will break." "Very good, my child," Jude replied. "So it is with me and all people. If we push ourselves beyond measure, we will break. It is good and right from time to time to relax and re-create ourselves." If you don't break from the tensions of daily living, they will break you."
I thought this was an enligtening story. We don't always take time out of our lives to purposefully rest. It's important to work hard to achieve your goals, but you'll get there faster and enjoy it more if you complement hard work with rest.
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