Work And RestImportance of work and rest in human’s life Essay
- Importance of work and rest in human’s life -All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. But all play and no work will be equally bad. A poem of Tennyson pictures an island where the people do not work and are constantly resting. They are known as the ‘lotus-eaters’. To those who understand the secret of life the lot of the lotus-eaters is not enviable. Worklessness is a very trying state of affairs. Solitary confinement is one of the severest punishments meted out to prisoners. No work is permitted to solitary prisoners, which makes life unbearable. Worklessness or too much rest is the worst possible condition to which one can be subjected.
- Life is a play of energy. Our power and energy find scope in work. Suitable work is very different from slave labour. An idle mind and an idle body are the devil’s workshop. Life blossoms and is refreshed by healthy work. It may be that young boys and girls find in taxing. But that is because they have not yet picked up the know-how of the work. After a time they get the “hang of the game” and then they warm up to their work. That which seemed dull or heavy or uninviting at first now begins to give the finest pleasure. School and college lessons and exercises, taking and making notes, trying to understand what the books and the teachers teach us, learning to express our knowledge and our thoughts, all these are a wonderful adventure. We experience the joy of growing mentally. This gives us a sense and a feeling of increasing power. The energy spent in the work of doing school and college work results in more mental energy. Hence energy increases by spending.
The joy and pleasure of rest are most welcome after a good day’s work. Only after work is rest truly enjoyable. Let us imagine a day of twenty-four hours which we have all to ourselves. There is no compulsion to work. We can spend this day just as we like. Who will get the fullest joy out of such a day? One who does nothing in particular and simply rests and rests, and instead of using the day lets the day use him, will find his life very dull. He will be bored to death. What he falsely imagines to be rest will cause him painful restlessness. In refreshing contrast to such a person is the case of sensible young man who spends the morning hours in doing up his room and after some relaxation and breakfast sitting down to write an essay or to read a few pages of interesting instructive and stimulative prose or poetry suited to his age and taste. As an alternative, he may be taking useful notes from useful book or doing other exercises connected with his course of studies. He will have his lunch at mid-day, then either take an afternoon nap or going out alone or in company to some beauty spots of nature or pursue some other hobby for a while and then spend the evening or the early hours of the night in rest or talk of some game. Such a man will get the best both out of his work and out of his rest.
The best remedy for boredom and tedium is to have
a variety of interests in life. Without this we shall not know what to do with ourselves or with our time. Everybody does not know the tricks and secrets of spending long leisure hours. Rest should be the reward of work. Rest and work properly balanced make life worth living. It needs planning and forethought.
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