The Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1945. THE HARDEST TASK OF ALL: RELAXATION!

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 272, 17 November 1945, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1945. THE HARDEST TASK OF ALL: RELAXATION!

IX/TOST people find it hard to relax. They will not admit it, per--IVI haps, but that is true. Actually some people condemn relaxation out of hand, regarding it as bad for the body, the mind, bad for everything. Relax only to get the necessary sleep, they say. should be man’s aim. All the rest of the time he should be industrious, doing something- to keep body and brain functioning. Is that wise?

Relaxation is as much part of life, as the greatest of human ‘energy and endeavour. It has a more humble place in man’s regard only because it docs not appear to achieve anything spectacular. You cannot be a great general, a leader of men, a good workman, judge, lawyer or candlestick maker by relaxing, but you can fail in any one of those occupations, in most occupations, by not relaxing. The spectacular achievements of man come as the result of energy, and energy is stored, nourished and brought to the bursting point of application by relaxation. Like everything else in life, however, relaxation must have correct and balanced application to be of value, and man must study his relaxation, or plan it, so that he achieves that right sori, of balance. To the average person relaxation means sitting down and resting. One headmistress insists on a period of relaxation for girls in her charge, a period of complete rest daily, letting the body fall limp, putting from the brain, without conscious effort, if possible, all thoughts other than thoughts of repose, a sort of conscious, yet effortless task of creating tranquility in both mind and body. For growing girls that is of inestimable value, flow many older people could do just that, become tranquil, forget worries, banish strain? Most of them declare that they haven’t got the time, and, in these days of speed and achievement, when distance is measured by minutes rather than by hours or days, when man is trying to get beyond his own world and into othei supposed worlds far beyond the stratosphere, is it any wonder that people will not make time to relax? Yet the changing world is insisting upon man looking to his relaxation as niuclf as to his application of energy. Shorter hours, brought about by improvement in methods of production, should, in effect, create for man more leisure. They do, in fact, but man is not prepared to accept as leisure that which is brought to him by the fruits of his own inventive genius. On the contrary, his slogan is still one to urge him on.

All that must stop somewhere, because the right sort of balance between relaxation and industry, work, or whatever the application of energy is called, is missing. The trend is towards energy to the detriment of relaxation. The human brain and body cannot stand more than a certain amount of strain, and actual physical wellbeing calls the tune in the end. The trouble is man does not heed the need to slacken before the call of health demands it. Many men to-day are regretting that they did not realise long ago that relaxation, properly planned, is part of living. But what is relaxation? It differs according to the type of human- you arc. A man who has passed say his 60th year would regard his afternoon nap as his real relaxation for the day, and probably would get through quite well on that—just an hour in which to doze. Another man of younger outlook would find relaxation in a picture show. One medical man in Wanganui, when his nerves were jaded, often went to a picture theatre for a quiet hour or two in the afternoon, and if “Buffalo Bill” entertained him he thanked the world for “Buffalo Bill” and forgot Mrs. Smith’s appendix, perhaps made a better job of dealing with it when tile time came, under the anaesthetic next morning. The experience of that medico bears out that relaxation can be accepted as being something more than its apparent literal meaning—sleep, rest. It can mean a change of scene. In support of that can be quoted a sporting journalist. He was due for a night off before attending a race meeting next day to report the pace and prospects of horses. Instead of going to bed he played poker all night with friends, said he was fresher next day, all because the poker, for him, was a change of scene. It was the first time he had played for 20 years and lie became 20 years younger during the game. A New Zealand Cabinet Minister, some years ago, when the pegging of the exchange rate was the almost bitter topic of the day. confessed that one weekend he forgot banks, banking and exchange, and read some of Edgar Wallace’s novels. That that Minister improved his knowledge of banking is open to sound contradiction. Reading that Sergeant Elk, of Scotland Yard (one of Wallace’s characters) kept grumbling that nobody would ever promote him because he could not answer the examination question as to what happened in 1066, would hardly improve a man’s ability to decide whether exchange should be pegged or left alone, but that Minister, and his opponents admit it, made the most virile speech of his career in Parliament on the exchange issue. He relaxed, gained energy and achieved!

M ith equal truth the same can be said of a man who leaves an insurance office, or bank, to go to Turangi and fish. The fishing means more physical energy, perhaps, but brings to a tired brain the relaxation it needs. Relaxation need not necessarily be a time oil’ to sleep, to slacken deliberately, but a change of environment, something which lifts a man out of himself, into a realisation that the throttle of his engine is not the only thing in life, that the wharf and its slings are not all dependent entirely upon him, that his desk, littered though it may be with paper and memos, with bills and other tilings, can really be got away from now and again, that there are brighter places in the world than round where man worries about the future. Relaxation can mean something vital if it is planned in such a way that it is accomplished sub-consciously rather than consciously. Man should be paying more attention to relaxation than he is doing, because, without it, the very human race can be undermined. Any approach'to the subject, however, should be made with a knowledge that, like many other requirements in life, it. can be as dangerous if overdone as if not done at all. It is time people tried to relax properly and learnt its true value, because, the war over, and progress once more established on a true course, something of a problem will arise as to what to do with those extra hours man will find to his credit, which, for want of a better name, he calls “leisure.”