Like it is for many kids, summers of my childhood were the best part of my year. I looked forward to lots of time to play, long sunny days, and seemingly endless time at the pool splashing away.
As anyone who has been to a community pool in the 80s knows, there was always a dreaded moment that would invariably happen right in the middle of a hot game of Marco Polo: the lifeguard whistle and pronouncement: REST BREAK!
All the kids would groan and paddle – more slowly than they’d been moving all day – to the side of the pool to get out. The adults, on the other hand, would jubilantly bounce out of their chairs and head to the pool for adult swim time that was theirs while all the kids sat and sulked along the edges. OH THE INJUSTICE OF IT ALL!
Recalling this memory recently made me chuckle because now as an adult, I long for someone to blow a whistle and FORCE me to take a break. Because when left to my own devices, I can often get carried away with work – or the inner thoughts that tell me to keep going even when I’m tired – to the point of wearing myself out. If I were in a pool and feeling worn out, it would be obvious to get out – otherwise I’d drown! But in the everyday rat race of our culture, where exhaustion and burnout are often badges of honor, there is no one monitoring the “pool”, and it hardly feels like we can self-select out.
Which leaves us with the hardest task of all…to learn to be our own lifeguard. To recognize when we’re tired, out of breath, sinking under the water…and pull ourselves out. To declare a rest break for ourselves. Because no one will do it for us.
Are you ready for your REST BREAK?!
