Where’s your off switch?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Training & development, Travel
When I was doing some training for the United Nations in East Africa a while back, some friends and I got together one night at a house to watch a movie and make cookies. The cookie dough never made it to the oven (a destination few cookie dough batches in my world meet) and the movie was interrupted several times by impromptu dancing.
We cranked some tunes on an IPod and boogied our butts around with big sloppy grins on our faces. You can get a sense of what we were dancing to here.
After we’d eaten the raw cookie dough and I’d corrected the impression I’d made on a visiting Colombian woman that no, not all Canadians eat raw cookie dough, we called it a night.
I reached over to turn off the IPod whereupon my pal Melanda said, with raised eyebrows and a look of shock on her face Oh, I didn’t know it had an off switch.
I continued chuckling for as long as my eyes stayed open that night. I wondered about what role technology has come to play in our lives, about our 24/7 lifestyles, about expectations to not ever tune out, turn off, to always be on and available.
I wondered about my off switch as a trainer. Training’s hard work and I’m a better trainer if I hit the off switch regularly and frequently.
When I relax, making cookie dough, dancing, listening to music, reading and walking/hiking about all call to me. ‘Nuggles with my kids, gatherings with friends or a good movie all help that off switch stay off.
And you? What helps you relax, tune out and turn off?
Tags: 24/7, health, off switch, united nations, Wellness
Leave a Reply