Why Hard Work Heals Us Better than Rest
I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle — victorious. — Vince Lombardi
We love to be lazy. Laying on the couch, binging on some Netflix, drinking beers by the pool or on the beach, we’re just taking some hard-earned R&R after another week of the all the bullshit we have to deal with. It never ends and we deal with it by unplugging. But what if taking a break from it all wasn’t even that good at recharging our batteries? What if the best way to recover was to go even harder until we’re physically broken, like in Lombardi’s quote, but victorious?
I don’t have a research study or interesting link to back this up, but in the last month, I’ve stayed up writing when I should have gone to sleep, I’ve gotten back into a regular workout habit, and I spent my entire Saturday today doing back-breaking yard work. And I have more energy than I can remember.
Laziness is a pretty modern invention; humans were made to work. We have tremendously capable minds and tremendously capable bodies and when we use them to their capacity, our natural systems reward us for doing so. It feels good to build up a ravenous hunger before a meal. It feels good to work hard to build something new, something we care about. It feels good to go to bed dog tired.
If you’re feeling down or tired or unmotivated or just plain bored, do something that pushes you to your capacity in some way, either mentally or physically. I think you’ll enjoy the rewards.
I’ll leave you with this passage from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations:
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?’
— But it’s nicer in here …
So you were born to feel ‘nice’? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?
