A NEWSLETTER FOR THE PURPOSEFUL TRAVELER, EXPLORING HOW TRAVEL CHANGES THE WAY YOU SEE YOUR LIFE.
Happiness Essential: Health Edition
Happy Sunday!
When people think of Survivor, they usually picture the contestants.
I remember the noise.
I would stand on a beach for hours with an earpiece in one ear feeding me whatever a contestant was saying and another feeding me production chatter, while someone stood in front of me with a question that needed an answer right then.
Three streams of input at once, nonstop.
For hours.
In whatever heat, rain, wind, or humidity the location handed us that day, there we stood.
What I learned to protect was sleep.
On the days I did not have to be up oh-dark-thirty, I let my body sleep as long as it needed. No alarm. No schedule pulling me out early.
I also learned to protect stretches of time when the earpieces came out and nothing was assaulting my ears.
Just quiet. Ah... the relief.
At the time, I would not have called any of this a health practice. I only knew that if I did not sleep when I had the chance and recover when I could, I would not make it through another demanding day of production.
Years later, I see this differently.
Recovery was part of what allowed me to do the work.
I think about that now when I travel and when I design journeys for other people. Filling every hour can leave very little room to absorb where you are. Some of the experience happens in the space around what you planned. In the pause.
The same is true at home.
When it all feels like too. much. to notice. one! more thing, recovery may be exactly what you need.
It may be worth asking what has been pressing on you all day that never eases up.
A full calendar. One decision after another. Other people's needs. A screen that keeps offering one more thing to read, answer, watch, or think about.
For me, it was two voices, one in each ear, on a beach. At the same time.
What is it for you?
