The luxury of free time and relaxation

This post will be slightly different from my other ones. I will not be writing about any luxury products nor incredible properties. The post will be about time and relaxation which are a… luxury commodity these days that not everyone can afford.

A while back, I came across interesting research on the way we work and the consequences of bad habits of working. In the Human Power Work, Power and Energy in Polish Companies report I was most drawn to the following three pieces of information:

• We sleep for an average of 6.5 hours
• Over half of us do not eat regular meals
• Over 60 per cent of us do not work out on a regular basis and fails to walk 7,000 steps daily.

Sleep, food and physical exercise – these may be only three things but they are essential for everyone. Of course, the quality of these three things affects our productivity and Energy levels. If we are permanently exhausted, poorly nutritioned and deprive our bodies of natural movement, we do not use our full potential.

Why am I writing about this right now? Christmas and the New Year are just around the corner and this is traditionally a time for relaxation, recaps and resolutions. To many of us, 1 January is a magic date. We promise ourselves to start going to the gym, losing weight, quitting smoking, finding a new job, etc. We badly want to change something as we are aware our lifestyle is not that perfect after all. If we are too involved in our work, we deprive ourselves of two crucial things: time for ourselves and relaxation.

In a way, true rest and relaxation, when we actually turn off our company email and smartphone, has become a luxury not many of us can afford. It is often so that even if we do go on vacation, we cannot help ourselves from checking up on what is going on at our company and what the client replied to our email. This is why, even though this is not yet time for making New Year’s resolutions, I personally decided a while back that I will be more conscious of the way I rest and relax. If there is anything I would like to promise myself next year, it will be to be able to take even better advantage of the luxury good that free time has become for me.

I would like to wish you and myself that we all have more quality time for R&R in the new year. And, as experts would say, nothing will change if you change nothing. Perhaps there is no point in waiting until January, and why not start right now, even before Christmas Eve, really enjoy our spare time? I hope this comes true for both you and myself.