Is relaxing relaxing?

In my previous article “What are you working on?” I wrote about the importance of finding something that makes you feel productive, empowered or accomplished.

Article by Bella Trost

Have you noticed that doing things that are meaningful makes you feel very relaxed even if you’re not actually relaxing but working hard on something?

I tend to find that pure relaxation like sitting on a beach/park/couch is relaxing for about a couple of hours but after that it doesn’t feel relaxing anymore. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying sitting on the beach all day but personally, sooner or later I want to do something.

When you’re doing something meaningful you lose track of time and you truly enjoy your activity because it feels rewarding even if the outcome is not an eventual benefit – finishing a LEGO castle, a painting, or your 5-layer chocolate cake. Regardless, you love the result and the process – that makes it interesting and absolutely stress-free for you.

It is priceless to have stress-free hours in our lives and it is a pleasure to create something and do things we love. It improves our mood, helps us to relieve pain and reduces the negative effects of strain. Spending time doing nothing hardly ever accomplishes that and it is rarely purely relaxing. Don’t get me wrong, I do take time off when I just lie on my beach towel like a starfish and I really enjoy that, but after a while it is so exciting to actually do something.