Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. — Anne Lamott

I enjoy using my laptop until something goes awry with it. Then I find myself getting frustrated and sometimes forgetting that doing a reboot almost always fixes whatever problem was making it wonky. The same is often true with appliances and lots of machines that we have come to depend upon to help us with our daily work. What ends up being hardest for most of us is plugging ourselves for a time. 

I have many friends who are still working. Some of them expend more hours getting things done on the weekend than they should be using to relax and tune out of all things that sap their energy. The wisest among them always spend a good chunk of time ignoring the chores and duties that seem to dominate their lives. They step over the piles of laundry or the lesson planning book and free themselves for a few hours or even an entire day. When they return to the grind of routine they are more refreshed and ready to face the challenges that thread through their lives. 

I have to admit that I have always struggled a bit with the idea of turning my back on things that need to be done. My mother used to rescue me on Saturday mornings by insisting that I goof off just a bit with her. I sometimes grumbled quietly when she pushed me to take a break. I considered all of the things that needed to be accomplished before I returned to work the following Monday and just wanted to chase her away. Out of love and respect I almost always surrender edto her pleas and left my obligations behind to share a bit of time with her. 

We might travel to Galveston and walk along the seawall. She might drive us to a mall where we mostly conversed and window shopped. Her destination might be little more than a quick stop for some ice cream. I never knew what she had in mind and there were times when I started the journey with her with an horrific attitude. Inside my mind I felt like a captive being forced to do something that I did not want to do. Not one time did I return from our adventures thinking that they had been a waste of time. In fact, I was always so regenerated that I accomplished my waiting tasks in record time. I will never quite know why I ever hesitated to go with her because her rescues of me always worked out well. She understood how to unplug me for a time so that I would be able to work properly again. 

We all need balance in our lives. Our routines should include both work and play. We all have obligations that must be met so we won’t be like a colleague of mine who once literally ran away from work on a whim. Surely she needed to unplug but just driving out of town instead of heading to work without alerting anyone was irresponsible even though all of us who worked beside her understood why it was her way of begging for help. 

If we now and then briefly unplug ourselves from anything that dominates our lives we will ultimately be all the better. We are less likely to collapse in exhaustion or anxiety if we give ourselves a break. The fact is that being human requires that we have healthy habits that balance work and rest. 

I belong to a group that share ideas and stories about the job of caretaking. I have done more than a bit of that throughout my life. I spent decades monitoring my mother’s mental health. At the end of her life she lived in my home. For almost four years my husband and I have been caring for my father-in-law, first in our home and for the past two months in nursing homes and hospitals. I learned the importance of respite from such duties by hearing the stories of individuals for whom the chore became unbearable. Without regular down times, they broke and wanted to run away like the young woman with whom I worked in the long ago. 

I found myself recalling my mother’s wisdom in snatching me away from my duties when she would pull into my driveway, honk her horn and insist that it was time for some fun. I instituted a date night with my husband from which we have not varied. It may be just the two of us reading and sipping tea and coffee at a Barnes or Noble bookstore but it is our moment of getting away, unplugging so that we will work better when our energy is needed. 

A well led live includes times with no intent of accomplishing anything but relaxing and turning off the hubbub of the world. We can be serious and dutiful most of the time while still goofing off just enough to get us through the toughest of times. My advice to anyone is to unplug with regularity. You will be amazed at how much better you will feel. The problems will still be there when you come back to them but you will have so much more energy with which to tackle them.