That nap was just about right. A mini-vacation. A few minutes to retreat from the day, knowing there will be a return to work and chores. But for just a few minutes, close the eyes, let the mind wind down, and rest – hopefully. It’s a fine idea for kindergartners, and I don’t see any reason why the rest of us can’t enjoy a short sleep too. It might even be good for more than a bit of sleep.

Snork. The sound that you’re ready for a nap, and are already taking one involuntarily. Trying to stay awake, sitting upright, but the eyes close, the head droops, and I let out a “Snork” that wakes me up.

How does that not happen in any after-lunch business meeting? 

I retired at 38. It seems like a long-lost fairy tale, but I’ve been writing much of that time, so I know I quit Boeing and decided to try a very early retirement. That’s been an adventure. There weren’t many role models for me, so I made up a lot of adjustments and changes from the cubicle life. I always tried to sneak in a 10-minute nap at lunch, but now I could do it without time limits. Very nice. Also, an insight into social programming; my naps tend to be about ten minutes, even now, decades later.

I’ll skip the medical benefits and impacts of naps. Go Search those yourself to find what fits your life.
For me, it was a necessary reset in the middle of a workday. After retiring, it was a treat I gave myself that didn’t require planning or a fee.

You probably know this is not just about naps. Pardon the obvious un-literary switch.

Work. Work. Work. That’s the American motto. Even if you’re not working, there’s probably a non-profit that wants your time because they have work that needs to be done. Take a break? That’s downright irresponsible. Isn’t it?

Over the course of a life, it is irresponsible to not take a break. Hitting a mountain with a hammer can make a tunnel, but it makes sense to step back and make sure you’re hitting the right mountain and are pointed in the right direction. Those of us who are human also know that the body needs time for food, and also to recuperate before the next day’s hammering.

It has been about 15 years since I took more than a week off. Some doctors said I should take about $8,000 worth of tests to see if my health issues were stress-related. I decided it would cost about half that to assume stress was the issue and use the money to walk across Scotland. (Walking Thinking Drinking Across Scotland) I’ve taken naps almost every day, but naps don’t add up to a vacation.

We live in an era when there is much more than enough work to do. I’ve just passed through a 15-year stroll through poverty with barely enough extra time for naps, not enough for longer vacations.

Look around. How many people do you see that are working multiple jobs, or are unceasingly demonstrating against unceasing injustice? We all need time to recuperate if we are going to sustain a struggle. Sure, the work might appreciate the workers, but the workers shouldn’t sacrifice themselves to the work. We have to remember why we’re working.

I’m fortunate. Selling my home last year was a major decision. It was almost solely based on finances.

My best source of increasing net worth was my home’s price rise; and, one of my most significant expenses was the increasing debt payment from my home equity loan. Jobs, writing books, selling photographs, speaking, and consulting added up to not enough. I sold my home, and launched myself into a one-year vacation from debt.

I did not, however, relax for twelve months. Moves are complicated. As with any house, there’s always something else to work on, and in my case, it’s taken about a year to realize what must be done. That realization is valuable.

The note I’m passing along has less to do with the details of my life and more to do with the freneticism I see in those around me. 

I live in a vacation mecca beside a tourist town. Within an hour and a half, I can drive from sea level to a mile up the Olympic Mountains. This is Summer. It is definitely tourist season. It is so touristy that many locals find other places to go to get away from the folks who come here to get away from where they live. There’s a lot of traveling going on.

The last half hour of that drive to Hurricane Ridge is up a windy, two-lane road with steep drops on one side and cliffs on the other. It was dicey in Winter. Summer should be much better, but I’m not sure it is. Snow and ice limited the traffic in Winter. Most of the traffic was locals going skiing. They knew the road. Many drove faster than me at the speed limit, but we managed. In Summer, the traffic is mostly folks who’ve never been on the road before, may be maneuvering an RV, and who can be distracted by the view, the deer in the road, the rocks in the road, or the RV coming the other way. It gets to be a bit nutso. At least in Summer, the road is also open on weekdays.

You’re on vacation. Relax. Enjoy the drive. Stop to enjoy the view. The Ridge is not going anywhere.
You can catch it even on a bicycle.

And yet, the drive can be treated as a commute with schedules. I feel sorry for those who get to the Ridge, park their cars, then sit in them with the engine running rather than step outside into the world. 

In town, it can be more entertaining. Occasionally, I’ll eat at a sidewalk restaurant. The stream of pedestrians has switched from mostly locals to many folks wearing vacation wear. Their shirts, and sometimes their shorts, advertise where they’ve been, as if where they are is not a place to be, but another excuse to add another name to their wardrobe. Gotta catch them all. Gotta see it all. 

But you can’t catch everything. You can’t see everything. Take a break.

Even as we try to take breaks, we frequently don’t. This year has made this apparent to me. I’m taking more breaks, but I’ve fallen out of the habit of how to set work aside. How many people are traveling to places they’ve been told to travel to, when what they really need is someplace to be, someplace to sit, someplace to nap? 

After we connected the world, we became aware of an overwhelming array of issues. It is easy to feel compelled to contribute to each fight. It is also easy to become overwhelmed.

Naps and vacations should be more than attempts to temporarily recuperate before returning to the fights. 

Before we connected the world, it was easier to find that time to nap, to sit on the porch, to chat with the neighbors, to slowly and maybe steadily take on tasks without each being an urgent call to action. 

Life may be a chance, a consequence. Life may have a greater purpose. As a society, we still don’t know why we are here and whether there’s something specific we should be doing. Maybe that’s what the aliens will tell us, or maybe that’s what they’ll ask us.

Frugality is about respecting resources. Time is a resource. Respect it. I intend to take some time to remember and to experience that aspect of life that is not just a duty, but a joy. Otherwise, what are we fighting for?