Date: 2023-04-05
In this post, I reflect on the consequences of no longer having rest as something sacred, and no longer observing periods of time that give a sense of rhythm to our year. I speak from a Catholic perspective, but I hope the general sentiment can resonate with you, regardless of your beliefs. We’re in the Holy Week, if you’re Christian, now is the time to take a break from work and start focusing on living the days ahead to the fullest. Regardless of your beliefs, I would still ask you to treasure rest, and to use it with purposed. I also ask you to have periods during the year that are different from each other, where you focus on different things, and that give you and yours some sense of rhythm.
I know that as Catholic I’m not a neutral observer, especially when it comes to religion and secularization. I don’t wish to come across as tone deaf, let alone do I want to offend people with other beliefs. With these disclaimers out of the way, allow me to question if for a secularized society obsessed with “productivity” and “success” rest is no longer something to be treasured. In Judaism and Christianity, rest is sacred, Jews observe the Sabbath and Catholics observe Sunday and holy days of obligation. Truth be told, Jews and Christians do more than just rest on these days—they devote them to prayer. Still, the fact remains that these are days where they don’t work if possible. When resting on a given day is no longer sacred, employees' days off work are no longer aligned, and are often shifting. Moreover, hustle culture probably pressures us to work on those days off to make some extra money, or advance our career. A lot can be said, and has been said by people more knowledgeable than I, about what having no rest does to work life balance and to our mental health. In this post, I’d prefer to focus on what this lack of rhythm, more precisely of collective rhythm, does to our life.
As I noted, “when resting on a given day is no longer sacred, employees' days off work are no longer aligned, and are often shifting.”. I reckon that as a society this makes us loose our sense of rhythm. You could say we have non-religious national holidays (note that even the term holiday comes from holy day), with the potential to be a day of rest for everyone, regardless of their beliefs. However, I’m afraid our obsession for “productivity”, “success”, and hustle culture, make it hard for that potential to be achieved. More and more people are asked to work on those days. It is no longer just doctors or police officers that must always be on call. I know that at least Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, not only have holidays as they have periods of time devoted to more intense prayer, fasting, and charity, as well as feasts lasting for several days. With this periods occurring roughly around the same time each year, there is a rhythm to the way each year passes (many periods are movable as to the day and month they fall on each civil year, but they are still predictable). You can say that many western societies still celebrate Christmas and Easter, but not only do they ascribe secularized meanings to them, as they distort their timeframes. For instance, people start to have office Christmas parties before Christmas, when Christians are still on Advent, a time of penance in preparation for Christmas. Then, for Catholics Christmas day is celebrated, liturgically (in Masses), for eight days. Christmas itself lasts until the Epiphany (i.e., Dia dos Reis, Dia del Reyes). Easter is preceded by Lent, a period of 40 days, but Easter Sunday is also liturgically celebrated for eight days, and Easter time lasts until Pentecost, which is 50 days after Easter Sunday. Psychologically, I reckon this gives you a sense of rhythm for the year, it makes days more different from each other. We all saw during the pandemic how our routines gave us a sense of time, and how lost we feel without them.
I’m writing this during the Holy Week, if you’re Christian, now would be a good time to take a break from work and start focusing on living to the fullest the days ahead. Regardless of your beliefs, I would ask you to take rest as something to be treasured and used with purposed. I also ask you to consider the importance of having periods during the year that are different from each other, where you focus on different things, and that give you and yours some sense of rhythm.
Thank you so much for reading!
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