“Off” days – do you have them?

“Off” days are not Days Off.  They are those strange times when you don’t feel excited about your work, and also don’t feel excited about anything much.

Going to a sporting event or meeting up with friends and family is a proper Day Off.  It is a planned day off for a special event and something you want to do and feel entitled to do.

We all know it is so important to get away from your work and have a day off. It helps work life balance, makes you feel good and more productive when you get back to work.

“Off ” days

But what if you have an “off” day which is different from a Planned Day Off.  And you can’t work out the reason for it?

“Off” times are more formless, and at the time you may not be able to work out the reason for it.

They are rather like the space between the stones in a drystone wall.  No cement needed. Simply space that allows everything else to have shape. In design terms it is the essential white space that separates aspects of the design.

Two days ago I had an “off” afternoon.  I didn’t plan it. It took me a long time to realise I was doing it. It wasn’t until I was half way through a scone with cream and raspberry jam that I realised what was going on!

• I didn’t  want to do any work.
• I don’t want to think.
• I feel like seeing the world going on around me.

If I had been with a friend, my partner or someone in my family I would have counted it as a Day Off.

My “off” days happen when I am on my own.  They usually come at me from nowhere and I suddenly feel as though I must go and do something and get out of the house.  I tell myself that I will “do some work” to justify it.  This usually means take my notebook and write. But I never do.

I feel a vague kind of discontent.  I don’t want to see a film or read a book – I am too jumpy for that. Sometimes I don’t even want to gaze at a beautiful view.  Nor do I want to do what I normally love .. have a good conversation. I have a need to soak up a variety of quick experiences as an outsider. Being in a shops or a public place indoors or outside with people around is often the answer.

What is the point of having an “off” day?

No point at all at the time!

I have been tempted to justify it by saying it is the essential darkness before the dawn.  The drought period before a surge of creativity but in my experience that is not always the case.  Looking back afterwards and telling myself I just needed the space.

But usually I take a more honest and authentic approach.  I just enjoy it.  Go with the flow.  I just tell myself that I needed the space. When I do this it helps me trust that my whole life will not be spent in this phase.  Giving in to it helps me get through it.

The next day after your subconscious has absorbed the experience and you have slept, it is helpful to check in and see if you feel more engaged.   Usually I find I do… but not always.

It feels like a downtime between worlds.  It is neither fully engaged relaxation, nor is it fully engaged concentration.  Both of which are life-affirming.

A chance to slow down

Perhaps the point is that we just need some space.I n our speeded-up world we still need the slower times.

In the old days when we worked in the fields and walked everywhere there would have been a lot more quiet time.  Doing repetitive physical tasks which did not take up the whole brain.  Even within the home all the domestic tasks would have taken more sustained physical energy as a longer time than putting a meal in the microwave or cooking a three course meal from scratch.  Kneading bread, churning butter, washing all used a lot of time and energy.

Perhaps we just need to be kinder to ourselves and trust the instincts that tell us to have an “off” day.

What do you think?  Do you have “off” days, too?