According to Me: Take a day off

Take a day off. That’s my advice. It is advice that I have no immediate plans to follow. But it is my advice just the same.

I’m 33, have two children aged 2 and under. I have work and graduate school and ministry and all of those assorted things I try to keep up with that demand some semblance of time and effort. Bills. Taxes. Household responsibilities. And so on. And so on.

It’s a list that probably sounds all too familiar to most modern adults. So, here’s my advice: take a day off.

I’ve read and heard a lot lately about modern health perils where my generation is not getting enough sleep and how we are working far more hours than our parents did and how we have fewer plans to retire and are expected to work deeper into life than preceding generations. And, I have to be honest. That’s all really exhausting just to think about.

Personally, I’ve found myself in this odd state far too frequently of late where I feel like I’m doing everything and experiencing nothing. It’s an odd balance to strike, working to live rather than living to work.

But, as I watch my son near the age of 3 and begin to realize just how much he has learned to do without me, I recognize that my time with him is fleeting.

And as I watch my daughter learn to walk and talk as she is right now, I begin to realize how close I am to having to teach her to drive and move her off to college and so on.

And, I think, that when my time is drawing to a close and I’m reflecting on my life, I’ll really wish that I had taken more days off to just be with my children or to just be with my wife or to just be.

So that’s the goal: to take a day off. Whether it is spring break or a Saturday or a random Tuesday in the middle of the month, just take a day off.

Jeremy D. Smith is managing partner of The West Alabama Watchman. He has covered news and sports in Demopolis since 2008. His column, According to Me, appears weekly on WestAlabamaWatchman.com.