The Sabbath

There are many things one can take out of the Bible that people of all different faiths or no faith at all can agree are good ideas. Of course there are the obvious ones like don’t lie, cheat, or steal; treat others as you would want them to treat you; don’t kill, etc. There is no argument that those are some great ideas and rules to follow.

There are even some faith specific items that the concept of should be applied to everyday life. One in particular is the Sabbath. Even an atheist can benefit greatly from the Sabbath, in concept alone.

A simple way to look at the Sabbath, in conceptual form, is even God needs to take a break every once in a while. In today’s fast paced digital world the hours of professional and personal lives blur together. On top of that, many of us are working full time while doing side projects, taking classes or both. Not to mention personal commitments for family and friends. At the pace we run these days, stress, fatigue and burnout are just the way we go forward.

Being employed full time, a part time student, working on multiple side projects and trying to live a life outside of work; I’ve been living my life on the edge of burnout for quite some time. The past few weeks I’ve decided to incorporate the Sabbath concept. One day each week, usually Saturday or Sunday of course, I go into a semi-shutdown mode. No answering work emails, no homework, no QuickBooks, no spreadsheets, no CAD models, no Word documents; just a day of rest. The way it should be.

Sure there are sometimes deadlines that trump this, but overall I have fully adopted the work/study six days a week and have one day of rest routine. This took quite a bit of effort to get on track with this, but it has greatly reduced the stress in my life.

Now more than ever we need to take some time off of our daily task lists. Overtime and multi-tasking is the normal instead of the exception for many of us. Especially for us who are not satisfied with just doing what is required or expected, but do the extra work to exceed beyond the rest. Sure it only takes a minute or two to reply to an email from your smartphone, but our minds, bodies and souls need a day off to recharge.

Since I started making an effort to shut off work for one day a week, the rewards are showing. I have more focus and energy during the other six days. I feel more productive and not stretched so thin of all my commitments, tasks and goals. Who knows, maybe someday I will take an actual real vacation someday. Well that won’t happen. I can’t totally unplug for an extended period of time.