Imagine you have to lug a heavy burden around with you. Imagine that every morning when you get out of bed, this invisible burden is tied to you, and that it stays with you as you go through your day.
And you are tired. God, how tired you are. You are depressed. You have headaches, muscle pains, irritated eyes, infections. But since you know of no other life, you don’t understand why it’s like that. You think it’s your own fault, and you become good at pulling yourself together to get the job done—whatever job you need to do, from caring for your children to painting houses.
And because you think the blame lies with you, you have tried self-help, doctors, pills, and exercise. One after the other, often at the same time.
Now imagine discovering that this burden, the one you had been carrying around, could have easily been removed by making just one small change in your life. Would you be angry? You bet you would!
But your most pronounced reaction would probably be one of relief.
Relief that there’s nothing wrong with you.
And that it is so easy to get rid of the burden.
Here’s another example: Imagine it is compulsory for everyone to wear sunglasses indoors. At home. At work. At school. In public institutions. And if you protest and say that your eyes are tired, you are told that you lack self-discipline. If you complain of a headache, you are given a pill. If you are tired, you are told to pull yourself together. If you find it difficult to read and write, you are told that the light has been checked and it has been found satisfactory. Clearly, such a world would be nothing but a madhouse. But think about it: Isn’t that what it is like for us?
THE STRUGGLE IS REAL—AND CAN BE OVERCOME
FATIGUE IS ONE OF THE MOST COMMON CONDITIONS IN MODERN SOCIETY
A gentle breeze blows across the sheltered bay. The sun warms your toes as you wiggle them in the soft sand. You’re sitting on your favorite beach looking out to sea, and the distant cries of the seagulls ring in your ears—
“Ahem! Ah-hem!” That was no seagull—it was your boss. She apologizes for disturbing you and asks: “Is that chair comfortable to sit in?” She thinks you look a little uncomfortable. Maybe you should be looking for a job somewhere else? Somewhere with more comfortable chairs, perhaps? You hurriedly assure her that the chair is excellent for sleeping—I mean, sitting in—and that, of course, you are content with everything. No, no, you weren’t sleeping. Yes, yes, you’re completely sure. The meeting continues. You sit up very straight in your (not very comfortable) chair and try to focus your wandering attention on the next agenda item. You were lucky. This time.
Some of what makes a vacation feel so different from everyday life can be brought back with you into your home and your place of work.
Important Info
If you’re the type who daydreams about the mountains or the sea or the forest instead of making that phone call, washing that load of laundry, or closing that deal, you’re not alone. Many people—including your boss—reminisce fondly about their vacations (and perhaps even a touch bitterly, because they seemed much too short).
At the risk of disappointing you, this book is not about showing how to turn every day into a vacation. Experiencing the peace and contentment of a vacation in the midst of a busy work life filled with obligations is difficult—if not impossible. But some of what makes a vacation feel so different from everyday life can be brought back with you into your home and your place of work. And doing this doesn’t require complicated feats of technical engineering or a steady drain on your bank account.
How often do you feel tired in the middle of your day, as if you can’t possibly take one more meeting or phone call? By late afternoon, have you used up every ounce of the energy you felt in the morning? Have you come to expect this lethargy as inevitable, with the only antidote being a cup of strong coffee or a large candy bar, the sweeter the better?
If your answer is “Why, yes, every day at around 2:30 I want to curl up under my desk or under the laundry hamper and take a long nap,” join the crowd—this is, unfortunately, an age-old problem in the history of the human race. More than two thousand years ago, the ancient Romans complained of fatigue as their towns and cities grew larger and their everyday lives became further removed from nature. Having recently shifted from an agrarian to an urban way of life, they felt the urge to travel out into green areas in search of rest and relaxation.
As in so many other realms, the ancient Romans were forerunners in stress reduction: They recognized that something crucial was missing from their lives and sought out solutions to the problem. Today, there is a plethora of solutions offered by scientific advances and a heightened awareness of the impact of environmental factors. But when you begin to sleepily count the hours to the end of your workday and yearn for a nice hammock in which to sleep the afternoon away, chances are you’re not thinking about what lies behind this onset of fatigue. But unlike the Romans, modern people have no idea what lies behind their ailments, and as often as not lay the blame on themselves.
I have a term for that nagging sense that something is missing: “lacking nature.” It is a term that gathers together the all-too-familiar symptoms that invariably appear under certain conditions.
What sort of symptoms? Through the thirty years in which I have been researching and developing healthy workplaces, the following symptoms are so common that they can be mistaken for everyday annoyances:
Headache
A groggy, heavy feeling
Fatigue
Respiratory tract irritations
UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS DO THESE COMPLAINTS ARISE?
During the winter
Usually indoors and in urban environments
When we cannot see, smell, or touch green, healthy plants
When the light around us is too weak or too bright
Have you noticed that the symptoms read more like a schoolchild’s excuses for staying at home on a particularly miserable autumn day? Compared to a broken bone or the bubonic plague, they really don’t seem to be a big deal. You’re right to be critical when someone comes along with dubious claims concerning some (usually expensive) means of curing quote common, “trivial” problems. But these small problems are what a great many people face on a daily basis. They aren’t excuses but symptoms we experience when we don’t feel ill enough to skip school or work (even though we would very much like to). And in many sectors, such as security and health, these problems are not at all minor matters. They can be the difference between a right decision and a wrong one—a choice that can be the difference between life and death.
Look again at the four types of conditions (see here). Note how two elements in particular recur—a lack of light and a lack of plants. And note another important distinction—there are conditions over which we have no control.
We can’t change the seasons of the year, for example, although some people are able to travel to seek out light and nature. And unless we happen to be high up in the command chain, we can’t do much