I am back from vacation, and as I suspected it would, the space has given me a new lease on life. I have returned with more energy, more hope, more perspective, and less worry.
As I said before I left, I really encourage you also to take some time off this summer. Reject the pervasive notion that we must be always on and create some space for yourself to recharge.
Perhaps as an added incentive, I offer you some of the perspective that my time away gave me.
On my vacation I traveled to Europe, and I have to say, Europeans seem so much more relaxed than Americans. Now I spent only two weeks there, so this is far from a scientific observation, but the pace just seemed less harried. People walk more slowly than they do in America, taking more time with their strides, observing their surroundings, pausing to chat with friends. Meals take much longer and require that you specifically ask your waiter for the bill because they don’t want to rush you. The lack of a relentless pace allowed me to take a deep breath and live more in the moment. I’m trying to take that slower pace back to work with me.
Europeans also move their bodies and get outside much more than Americans, it seems. There are so many more bikes and pedestrians on the roads. In fact, in Berlin every street has a dedicated bike/pedestrian lane, and often one for each. And the biker or walker always has the right of way over the car. It is obvious that while cars are important, the healthier, more environmentally friendly forms of transportation are more valued. I found that the increased amount of walking and biking made me feel healthier, but also gave me a new perspective on my surroundings. Removing the separation of the car window, I became much more cognizant of and part of my world.
I also spent a lot of time exploring museums and monuments in order better to understand European history. Because we were in London and Berlin, our historical exploration tended to focus on World War II and the Cold War. And for some strange reason I found the people and places from that period of history strangely comforting. Our current times often feel overwhelmingly uncertain and grim. But those anxieties pale in comparison to the second half of the 20th Century, which was particularly hard on the people of Europe — from the rise of Nazism, to the violence and destruction of World War II, to the displacement and fear of the Cold War. Yet the European people somehow found a way to get through it. In fact, the DDR Museum, which chronicles social history in East Germany under communist rule, demonstrated how East Berliners, essentially cut off from the rest of the world by the Berlin Wall, found creative ways to build lives for themselves despite the limits of their surroundings. It was, to me, a testament to the human spirit’s ability to endure, adapt and survive. And it was a particularly heartening message for me in our 2017 world.
The geographic and historical space my time away provided helped me realize that my little world is fairly insignificant. There is a much larger world and a much longer history out there. And so I emerge more relaxed, more present and with a greater appreciation for focusing on what I can control and letting the rest just be.
Photo Credit: October 1961. Children keep their friendship across the barbed wire border between East and West Berlin. From the booklet “A City Torn Apart: Building of the Berlin Wall.” The Central Intelligence Agency.
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