mental-health

Taking a Break

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How many times have you heard it? If you are struggling with something its time to take a break. Or, maybe you have said it yourself, I have got to take a break, whether it is a mental or physical task.  These breaks tend to be short breaks, but then there are the longer ones, a “vacation” or “holiday” or, if you are lucky, even a longer one, a “sabatical.”  We know we need breaks, but have you ever had any good advice about how to “prepare” for one?

Sure, the short breaks, the ones that are built into our day, the coffee break, or tea time.  Those are part of the routine.  Or, if you are working on a project, a brief stretch break, again, something that is built in.  What about “study breaks” or those longer breaks, like a vacation or a long weekend?  We don’t typically get any useful advice on how to prepare for them, so we aren’t “overwhelmed” when we return and lose all the benefit of the break.  Personally, I just took a short break, a weekend retreat. Yet, this time I spent some time preparing for the break, and thought I would share some insights.

Let’s look at it from a learning perspective.  We know cramming doesn’t work; it may help with the next quiz or test, but it won’t help in the long run.  The question is why?  As a physicist, I view homework problems as puzzles.  Some come easily, others not so much.  But, I also know that if I haven’t been able to figure something out, sleeping on it or switching to another task, such as going for a walk, vacuuming, folding the laundry, or engaging in a hobby, and I came back to the problem, it seems to have solved itself. Why? There is a psychological term for it, “latency.” I think that Graham Wallas, a social psychologist in 1926, outlined it perfectly.  He said that learning requires preparation, i.e., the hard work of gathering the data, working on the homework, trying to solve the problem, followed by incubation, walking away, and letting the brain do its work, then you get the AHA!, or illumination, and finally, you put your learning to the test.  It is all a critical part of learning.  Thus, to really make a topic, or subject your own, you have to put in the effort and take a break. 

Coming back to the problem or task creates another issue, getting started after the break.  Apparently, Ernest Hemingway had a system that helped with that, the Hemingway Method.  He said to stop at the peak and write down the next step, or, as he was a writer, write down the next subject line, and that would get you back on track.

What about the longer breaks?  This is where planning is essential.  In preparing for a weekend away or a longer vacation, there are a number of things to consider.  What are the deadlines that you are facing, who is going to cover those essential tasks, and how are you going to return?  So, here is my advice: start planning early and protect your break.  You know your vacation is coming, so get your to-do lists ready.  Set yourself up for success.  Those big projects get them to a good place, so you know exactly what has to be done when you get back, make the vital arrangements with the colleagues that will cover for you if something comes up, and use your tools.  Use that out-of-office item in your email; you need to manage expectations when you are away.  

It is the return that is always a challenge.  I find that I need a buffer; I need to build in a bit of time to make sure I can manage the inevitable travel glitches, clean up items at home, and give myself some time to come back.  If possible, arrange your break so that you have this time.  You also need to use your tools to schedule time to go through your email and have a method that works for you. There are lots of productivity tips out there to help with your “inbox” (virtual or real), but it is a method that works for you.  You don’t want all of that energy that you gained from your break to be sapped out immediately.  

As with most things, a bit of planning and reflection prior to acting will help.  It will allow you to enjoy your break and will allow you to manage the re-entry.  Yes, breaks are essential, and we don’t take enough of them, primarily because no one ever taught us how.

New World vs Old World or is it a collaboration that is necessary?

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Here in the US, we have a society that dictates that every minute should be active.  We have to fill our lives with appointments, our calendars with schedules, “manage our time”, and the list could continue.  We fill our moments with screen time in its varying forms.  So much so that we as individuals can’t remember a time when there wasn’t something that “had to be done.”  This is our modern challenge.

So, join with me on a bit of a thought experiment.  When was the last time you, as an individual, sat quietly and did nothing for 60 seconds?  I do a pre-professional workshop each year with college freshmen.  The goal of the workshop is to help students reflect on the skills and experiences that will make them more marketable and ultimately successful beyond the designated coursework for their degrees.  My “ice breaker” is an exercise that first requires them to envision their position in 4 years, they have just landed their first post-graduation job, and they are at an introductory cocktail party. They are paired with another “new” employee and need to describe how they got to this position. I introduce the exercise, and then I have them stand up and pair up with someone they don’t know.  The person that they are paired with will have to introduce you to the group.  This is a typical icebreaker-type scenario.  But here is my twist.  I have them stand quietly for five minutes to develop their vision of how they will get to that point 4 years from now.  It may not sound like much.  But, having done this exercise for several years, here is what you would observe:  the fidgeting begins at about 45 seconds, the awkward glances at about 90 seconds in, and the silence breaks at about 2 minutes, and you have to remind them that they need to be quiet so that others can think.  Ultimately, most cannot do it; they can’t stop and think, imagine, or reflect quietly for 5 minutes. It is too much.

Yet, our science and our society tell us that we need that time, that time of reflection, that downtime.  We see it in learning studies, in leadership studies, and in nature.  To grow, we have to be willing to stop and rest.  We need the quiet “dwell time,” or what psychologists call latency.  We need to reflect, we need the quiet, we need the pause.

If you have been following social media and finally mainstream media, you may have come across the “Walk for Peace.” A group of Monks walked from Ft. Worth, Texas, to Washington, DC.  If you watched what happened, it was truly fascinating.  First, people tied all kinds of different meanings and scenarios to the walk.  Then, as individuals realized that this group was simply following their path, their intent, and their demonstration that what the world needed was peace and a simple message, things changed.  The crowds came, but they were quiet.  People stopped, they paused.  People began to understand that each individual needs that quiet time.  It may be an active quiet like walking. But it is quiet, without the “noise” of our society, i.e., constant need for input from something outside of our natural environment.

What might seem counterintuitive in our fast-paced, always-on-the-go society, there is a way to find that “quiet” time. While the Monks were walking, I was personally working with the other end of the spectrum, engaging with the fast-paced changes we are encountering with our electronic, or “smart” assistants.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly become part of our everyday lives. It is in our usual tools, our wordprocessors, as part of our “smart” feeds for television, our email, our social media, and the list can continue.  Yet, it can also help us find the pauses, the quiet time, the time for reflection, and even help us focus our jumbled-up thoughts into a reflection.  My AI Assistant has provided me with ways to free up my time, transcribing meeting minutes, providing summaries, and more.  It saves me several hours per week just by providing typing support.  Since ChatGPT was “released” in November 2022, our lives have been fundamentally different, whether or not you personally have noticed it.  I made a conscious decision to learn about the technology because I understood it would be part of our lives. Yet, I have adapted it into my workflows so that I can pause and reflect.  I have seen an increase in the time I can spend on slow things, like taking two days to make a lovely loaf of bread or a slow-cooked pork roast.  I can go on a “media” free walk and observe the stars or listen to the birds.  I feel less stressed, because I have an assistant who can help me find minutes in the day and help me organize.  It is a case where the “new” world is enabling the “slow” world.  And, I am finding a lot of peace in that.