Change is as Good as a Rest

A couple of weeks ago, I made a quick trip out to Kelowna to visit my son who is in school there. It wasn’t a particularly relaxing 4 days… 12 hours of driving there and back, lots of running around the city buying things for his new home, late nights visiting with friends and catching up…and yet when I got back home, I felt refreshed and energized. It appears that even with our frenetic pace of life, the old adage ‘a change is a good as a rest’ still holds true. How so?

When our life is full of routine and nothing much changes from day to day – same destinations, same people, same activities, it is our tendency to go on auto-pilot and become increasingly less present. While becoming unconsciously competent¹ is a good thing when driving a car (remember how difficult it felt when first learning, with so many things to focus on doing at the same time?) when it comes to daily living, we are less mindful of the present moment and spend increasing amounts of time in our heads, thinking about what’s coming next or pondering what we have just done.

This all changes when we go somewhere new. The new sights, sounds and smells stimulate our senses and bring us into the present moment. As we drop down into our bodies to experience the sensations of our new environment, the incessant mind chatter stops. As the mind becomes quieter, tension falls away and this is a rest indeed!

Combine a change of scenery with fun and laughter and it is easy to see why it can help us feel rejuvenated. After we have finished laughing our whole body begins to lighten up in an “afterglow” period in which we relax muscle tension and reduce stress in the nerves. Over seriousness blows up problems; laughter blows them away! It can inspire a new way of thinking, a fresh perception, a change in belief and the revelation of previously unimagined possibilities. In the words of Milton Berle, the late American comedian and actor, “Laughter is an instant vacation.”

¹ The Four Stages of Competence