Well, the last post here at Health Image was all about enjoying an outdoor lifestyle for health. It was a little while ago and I do apologise for that. So without further ado, I’ll get this this post done, where we’ll carry that theme on by looking at how to get some healthy recreational rested and relaxation!

First of all, you need to know how to slow down. Life in the West is very fast paced and we have become accustomed to expecting everything to be done yesterday. Conversely, to get rested, relaxed and recreated you have to shrug off the trappings of the rat race and start expecting things to get done sometime later!

Slowing yourself down can at first seem a simple thing to do, but when you work all week in a high stress job, chilling out at the weekends is not quite as straightforward as you might imagine. You might think you’re getting rested, relaxed and recreated, but in fact you haven’t slowed down one bit.

You still expect the newspaper to be delivered before your eggs are done, the kettle to boil faster than it is designed to, the pizza delivery boy to turn up ten seconds after you’ve put the phone down (what have I already told you about eating pizza!), the ads on TV to be over with so you can get back to watching Lost (ok, I’ll let you have that one), etc, etc, etc…

Whoa! Back up a little.

To truly get rested, relaxed and recreated you have to switch off the revving motor and let the day go at its own pace. If that means spending an extra five minutes sitting on the toilet while the world can go to hell, then do it! Ha!

You’ve got to not surround yourself with high stress, demanding people so if the kids start screaming for attention, tell them to go play outside in the fresh air because you want to get rested, relaxed and recreated and they are invading your space. Just see how they cope with a dose of their own medicine!

Then take time out for yourself. Go take a walk in the park if it’s a nice day, or meet with some low stress friends for lunch somewhere and learn to really relax and enjoy yourself. If the waiter takes an age to serve you, don’t get angry, use the time to catch up on all the gossip with your friends – after all it’s the restaurant’s table you’re taking up so they’re loss if they want to keep you there all day!

There’s lots of ways to unwind at the weekend, just look around you and let the world go racing by if it wants to without effecting your own time frame and get rested, relaxed and recreated!

Terry Didcott
Health Image

2 Comments »