On a recent trip, I was forced to slow down and relax and I had no idea just how healing and restorative travel can be even after all of these miles and years.
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Life Can Be Overwhelming
We all have a lot going on in our lives, everyone is busy. And it seems we are only getting busier but it was getting a little out of hand for me personally. To put some context into this, I personally manage two active businesses with clients traveling globally, and staff across 11 time zones. It can be a lot.
My schedule starts a little late, about 9-9:30 in the morning and is usually filled with meetings until lunch where I try to be a little bit present for my family. Once lunch is over it’s back to work until dinner and out of a passion for cooking, I make most of the meals. Sprinkle in a kid’s baseball game, or practice, a guitar or piano lesson, maybe just trying to play with the kids or watch a movie and at 10 pm when the house is quiet again, I am back at my computer working until at least 2 am but usually 3 or 4 before starting it over again. Live And Let’s Fly gets pushed to Saturday and subsequently Saturday night, before waking up for church for my least busy day, Sunday.
It’s exhausting and was running me down. On top of that, I often travel for work which condenses meetings and work I need to do elsewhere. Both of my active businesses can be very public and very high stakes which further adds to the stress of not only the amount of work I do but the type of work, and the public nature in which its done.
I often long for a simpler life of just one going concern, just a couple of local hourly employees, and not being on a stage for every success or failure.
A Forced Time Out
A vendor flew me out for a meeting in Italy. I had planned on returning immediately, but they couldn’t book me on a flight right back so I had three days in Italy blocked on my calendar.
When under peak stress, I sometimes get stress ulcers and it’s my body’s way of saying – slow down, calm down, relax. During the start of my trip I could feel one forming but I thought I had it under control. I did not. By the time my few days of meetings had concluded in Rome and I had nothing but extra time and a cleared schedule, I took the time away from my businesses and allowed myself to just relax. I had to, there was nothing else to do.
The Restorative Value of Travel
During my three days of unabated relaxation, I let myself sleep as much as I wanted to. Most weeks I hover around 35 hours of sleep or just shy of 40% less than doctors recommend. It takes its toll, but with a cleared schedule and a reasonable reason for bed rest and relaxation, I was able to use that time to restore.
Adding to the experience, my business partner brought me to his village in Veroli, Italy where he has a home. This quaint town of 16,000 (they must be counting pets to reach that number) was as picturesque Italian as anything I had ever countered. Brick lined streets, archways and old lamps – it looks like what the exterior of an Olive Garden was trying to achieve.
But on those cobbled streets, I took time to just be there, to get some fresh air and some fresh pasta. In Rome, where I would usually spend my time, I would have been compelled to get up and go do something. In Veroli, that wasn’t the case. A slow cup of coffee (bad for my ulcer but good for my soul) spending an hour just soaking it all in was far more restorative to my health than anything else I could have done.
Because the ulcers form in my throat, it can be difficult or unpleasant to talk which created an opportunity for me to just be quiet, and listen. An opportunity to absorb my surroundings. That too, was good for my soul.
If I had raced back home, the ulcer would have undoubtedly increased in size and possibly required medical intervention as I have outlined on this site before simply because I would have dived right back in to a hectic schedule.
There’s a happy ending to this story. In the best of cases, my ulcer would have lingered for weeks, but thankfully, it was gone just two days into my Tuscan countryside escape. I left relaxed, healthy, rested, and absolutely charmed not only by this quaint village and its lovely people, but by the power of travel when you bother to slow down and enjoy it.
If you happen to be susceptible to “stress ulcers” , then you need Humor .
There is no problem which does not have the makings of a Joke .
The well-known Palm Beach prescription for susceptibility to “stress ulcers” is a bottle of champagne .
Also , “stress” has Never solved any problem .
There is absolutely no better place on Earth to relax than Italy. Exploring small villages like you did is a fantastic way to recharge yourself. Read about Blue Zones and other behaviors that allow Italians to live better and longer than many.
@Santastico … Just before auto racing in the Grand Prix de Monaco , Graham Hill had a few glasses of wine at the local bistro . He was ready to race .
I’m going to Italy for my birthday! But I will not relax, 15k steps a day MINIMUM! lol
Must work off that pasta, Jan!
I would suggest that you read instead about how blue zones are a hoax. Primarily related to poor birth records in these areas.
Great article Kyle. Thanks for sharing.
Hope you were sipping that espresso at the piazza while reading Elena Ferrante’s Mi Amica Geniale. Perhaps, Claudio Baglioni’s song E Tu playing on the background :” Accoccolati ad ascoltare il mare
quanto tempo siamo stati
senza fiatare.
Good for you and nice that you got a chance to unwind a little.
I think that most of Europe has been managing to avoid the fallacy of prioritising work to the expense of literally everything else. Obviously the USA is notorious for its poor work-life balance, but I often meet people from places like Taiwan, Mexico or Chile earning really good salaries (often more, even in absolute terms, than an equivalent job would pay in the UK, France, or even Germany) but having very little time to enjoy the fruits of their labour. There are virtually no ways for them to take a holiday of more than two weeks or reduce working time to 6 hour days, 4 day weeks or anything of the sort.
Of course it’s more complicated if you’re running a small business and hoping for delayed gratification when it grows and/or sells, but anyone who has their basic costs (house, car/transport, bills, healthcare etc) covered and seeks to maximise their salary by sacrificing leisure time is completely missing the point.