Hurry Up and Rest….Or Else!

Practicing What I Preach (Photo Credit: D L Perrett)

When I was doing my two years National Service many moons ago, a lot of time was spent waiting around to do mostly nothing.

The expression “hurry up and wait” was a popular and oft heard refrain. We have now adapted that to “hurry up and rest”!

My wife (a New Zealander) and I (a Saffa) met travelling in Europe in the 80’s and we have never really stopped travelling. But how we travel has changed quite a bit through the various stages of our lives.

As backpackers it was go, go, go.

Later, with kids on board, we had to change that approach. One particularly memorable event forced us to rethink our travel planning.

The Shift

When our son was about 6 months old, we packed him and his older sister into our trusty Toyota 4 x 4 double cab and drove for almost two days solid to the Twee Rivieren Camp in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park which straddles the South African — Botswana border with its western border being the Namibian border.

It’s a very long way for a 6 month old to spend strapped in a car seat with not too many breaks along the way.

He was remarkably well behaved, and all went well until we got into camp. Tents went up, the fire was lit, cooking was done, dinner consumed, showers/baths done and then we crawled into our tent exhausted.

At which point our son decided to vent his frustrations on us and, very uncharacteristically, launched into a sleep deprived melt down of epic proportions that lasted most of the night.

We had nowhere to hide.

We were in a campground in the middle of the African bush with only a very thin tent wall between us and everyone else in the campground.

It was a very long night.

After that, our trip planning changed. Even when the kids were in their late teens, we tried not to string two long travel days together. And if that was not possible, then day 3 and sometimes day 4 were rest days.

Our Reality Now

And now, in our mid-sixties, we appreciate even more, the need to stop and enjoy wherever we are for a rest day or two. We have discovered that we can do 4 days on the move if we need to, but then we need to stay at least two nights in the same place and regroup.

But mostly nowadays we settle into a spot and spend a week or three becoming part of life wherever we are.

We have also discovered an uncomfortable truth. As you get older, no matter how fit and healthy you are, if you don’t give your body regular chances to rest and recover, then it will force you to do that by inflicting some health woe on you.

That scenario is best avoided at all costs and so resting has become an integral part of our lives and an essential “tool” in remaining fit and healthy.

If you are interested in other little things we have learned to keep fit and healthy as Baby Boomers on the road, then pop over to https://boomerodyssey.com

Originally published at https://kperrett.substack.com.