How do you 'break' from work and/or study? I have no advice here. I am in NEED of encouragement to get off the computer, exercise, and take time for lunch. Often I work until 6:00 p.m. without stopping for lunch, which probably accounts for some of the dumb things I do. :)
I always have plenty of distractions that lure me into walking away from my studies! I could ship you a kid or two!! ;) No, seriously, I have this challenge too, because when you get so focused and really working hard on something and are making good headway on it, who wants to stop and make dinner? Or stop and exercise? I think it just takes some self-discipline to step on the treadmill for ten minutes, or go outside and get some fresh air, or fold a load of laundry, or whatever. It will help make you more productive when you return. Who am I to be giving you advice, Linda? You're the director or this grand school!! :) These are just some things I do.
Hi Linda,
I think we all do the same thing. I can't count the number of times my husband got up and asked if I know what time it is and that I only have 5 hours until I need to get up for work. LOL I have not tried this but it sounds like a good idea, set a timer for 1 to 1 1/2 hour - get up and march in place or do some stretches - neck, arms and back - toe touches help. Walk to the copier etc. Our ergonomics lady from work is always stressing the need to get up and move ! The timer is a good reminder due to the fact we ALREADY lose track of time.
On days where I “work,” which is either a day where I work for an employer, study, do house work, etc. I always plan out my day on how much time I will spend on each project and when it will be done at the very beginning of each day and try to stick to it. I do cardio exercise four days per week for 45 minutes each day, but I have to schedule in time for getting dressed/undressed, showering, etc. I also work on learning to type each day, and of course I have normal housework like laundry and cooking just like everyone. Getting on paper my breaks and tasks and sticking to it helps me immensely.
I also schedule one “off” day per month. This is a day I don’t do any work or studying. I will go to mass if it’s a Sunday, but other than that this is a special day. I will “do something” this day and if necessary I will save up money all month for it. I might go to the zoo, amusement park, hunting (I hunt groundhogs, crows, coyotes and other pests so something is always open), or to a baseball or football game. What I will not do, however, is zone out in front of the T.V. all day. I have let too much of my life slip away behind a screen. After I turned 39 I sort of had a midlife crisis (don’t worry it was tame for a male midlife crisis—no girlfriends young enough to be my daughter appeared on my arm or motorcycles appeared in the drive way) and I realized just how much time of my adult life I had wasted not living and having fun that it was frightening. I also made a resolution that unless I had scheduled time to be on it, the computer would be turned off. The computer is nothing but a black hole that sucks in time, and it never returns. Unless you have a reason to be on the computer AND have set a firm time to get off, leave the computer turned off. You would not guess how much time this saves.
Our "baby boy" is now in college and left the nest....We always stayed very busy with his school activities as well as scouting activities (Eagle in the house!). My husband works shift work, so we don't have a lot of time together, and maybe it's in the middle of the week, not always on the weekends. We like to cook together. We have a vegetable garden in the back yard, and I love my herb/flower garden in the front. We enjoy seeing movies. I don't have a lot of downtime, but I love getting lost in a really good mystery novel. I also get a lot of enjoyment out of playing with our 2 dogs. I also enjoy going to family functions such as watching my niece play softball.
Apparently I started 2 threads on this topic, one on the Industry-Related Discussions and this one on the Off-Topic Discussions. I used to be able to combine threads and would do that if I could remember how, but I'm only finding the option of SPLITTING threads, not combining them, so we'll keep both going. I'm enjoying and learning from both. I need this motivation and it's working.
Oh my gosh, I love this topic because I have recently discovered the POWER of YOGA! I LOVE yoga, it's great for before and after I study, it like clears my mind and just makes my body feel so good. I use to get headaches when I was studying and now it's like a ritual of mine. Do yoga before I study to get engery going through out my body and relive stress and afterwards I just feel like I have consumed the right information, therefore making me feel productive. I won't go into my eating habits, but I follow Kimberly Snyder's teaching on food that are natural and make you feel GREAT, she is a nutritionist! I love it! Anyways thats what I do! :) I spend my days, cleaning, researching topics of health and experimenting with natural homemade beauty products, or I experiment with herbs and learn about vegetables and how to grow them. It seems the more I research about the body the more intone I become with my own and I hope to never have someone code some of these codes to me cause it's kind of SCARY! lol! So, now I'm in a mind set to find out how not to get a heart condition or lung failure or all sorts of things, hahahaha!
Of course my life is different from most, but this discussion makes me so happy to read and know that "Man, there are mom's that have more challenges then I do" and not just moms, but fathers too! I love this topic! I encourage everyone to read Kimberly Snyder's book just because I feel more energy and clarity through out the day! I never sluggish because I bought the natural detox pills she has and natural probiotics that helps with my gastric system! hahaha! I sound so hippie I swear! :)
If I were to get in the Lotus position they would have to call an ambulance to undo me, but I have a similar experience with guided meditation. Guided meditation isn’t like Eastern Meditation where you try to stop thinking; as a matter of fact it is just the opposite. It is where you get relaxed enough to become hyper-focused. Guided meditation can be anything from reading a passage in your religion’s book and then closing your eyes and reenacting the scene in your mind with pictures and having some “artistic freedom” to fill in the gaps (this is what Catholics do when they pray the rosary), to listening to a recording complete with sound effects that accompany a story that you visualize as it is narrated. Take for example the library I have from Meditainment.com In one meditation you paddle a canoe down a gentle flowing river to a path that leads up through the trees from the bank and leads you to a field with all types of wildlife, and then you watch a sunset, and then go back the way you came. As you’re in the canoe you hear the paddle in the water, and hear buzzing from mosquitoes and such. You hear the canoe land on the bank and the narrator tells you to follow the path, etc. through the end of the meditation. It is a serious stress buster, relaxer, and it really helps you to focus when you’re done. I love them. I try to do one around midday and then fall to sleep to one designed for that purpose. Think of it as a guided day dream. Although you can find short ones for free, I enjoy them most when they are about 20 minutes long. This really gives plenty of time to get relaxed and focused and not have to “wake up” abruptly. I also pray the rosary each night too. A lot of people misunderstand this and do not realize we are meditating (reliving the events of the Christian gospels from memory and viewing the story in pictures) and just think we are repeating prayers mindlessly over and over. The prayers are like a background rhythm that keeps you focused.
hahaha lol thats funny and interesting!