recovery : mackenzian

Ten years ago, an interview between Tavis Smiley and Will Smith went viral. When Smiley asked what set Smith apart toward the end of the session, Smith laughed and said:

The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill… I will not be outworked. Period.” —Will Smith (December 12, 2007 | PBS original segment 24:23; YouTube clip 6:22 | uncaptioned)

There’s something about hard work rhetoric that’s incredibly compelling in this culture. The United States, after all, has a workforce culture that promotes intense labor, even at the cost of workers’ health and well-being. In academia, it’s called the “eight days a week” effect, and whether workers are passionate about their research and teaching or have the hustle motive that Smith talks about, it can be deeply unsustainable for early career folks and those still in training.

But it’s still affirmed anyway, and rewarded in cash, opportunity, and social approval.

There are contrasting perspectives from the world of fitness, however. The Hairpin‘s recurring column on women’s weight training recently responded to a question about how to balance cardio and resistance workouts. Columnist Casey Johnston writes:

If your sense of Accomplished is inextricable from your sense of Busy, you need to untangle them, right now… It is not fitness to push yourself to the max constantly with no end in sight.” —Casey Johnston (January 3, 2017)

In other words: the domain that gave Smith his key metaphor disagrees with his approach. It’s not a question of being a lazy worker or a lax trainer. Instead, as Johnston carefully explains, it’s essential to work wisely, to balance work with rest, to allow time for recovery, to vary weight and pace, and not press so hard that one risks death on the conveyor belt.

When I was in grad school, my mother told me dry as ice that she was sure my university awarded posthumous degrees. The lesson, of course, was that such an award would be worthless to me.

So even as I admire what Smith and his family have accomplished through hustle and persistence, I think the rest of us need to supplement that wisdom with a few solid breaks between sets.

The floor plan for my old one-bedroom apartment. The floor plan is a line drawing, black lines on a white background. Bedroom, bathroom, living area, and kitchen are labeled. — Defined and distinct zones in the floor plan for my old apartment. Image: DTI Properties.

Helping professionals and social activists are among the many, many kinds of people who really need to pay attention to the space available in their lives for recovery and restoration.

I’m completing my second year in a congregational position where I’ve learned a great deal about community life and what works well for people who serve. Working behind the curtain means seeing much more than I did in my years as a very active lay church member. Those who pour themselves out in service to others must have space and time to gather themselves, and that can’t be optional or there’ll be unnecessary suffering.

I woke up one morning this summer with the phrase “Don’t sleep where you cook” rattling around my head.

Don’t sleep where you cook.

Give the stove room to breathe, and give yourself the luxury of a bed distinct from the pots and pans. Differentiate between where you prepare nourishment for or with others and where you rest from service with and for them.

It can be especially easy for leaders in faith communities, human services, and non-profit organizations to devote so much energy and attention to worthy causes that reasonable boundaries fail and their activity and rest zones blur. In the name of commitment and dedication, a lot of leaders end up designing their lives more like a studio apartment than a multi-room home.

There are privileges in having paid time off to take or community resources to support our hitting full-stop on the cycle of production: parents and other caretakers know that vacations can involve their own category of work. It’s also a privilege to have new contexts to go to, to relax in, to learn from, and to train in.

But even a studio breaks up its spaces. And while we’re in our home routines, not off-grid, we can practice gentle ways to ensure that we do wholly rest so we can do our best when we return.

Learn from my friend Hugh; help him rest if you can.