This is highly recommended, a series where I provide a compelling argument for why you should like something that I like.

Dear Reader,

If there’s one thing I know, it’s that all of you are loyal readers. And as loyal readers of highly recommended, I know that you’ve noticed a significant lack of weekly blog posts over the past two weeks. (I guess that means I know two things. I wouldn’t consider that much of a lie, but more of a misunderstanding. Using this kind of logic has gotten me in trouble before, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop. I’ve never claimed to know about being smart.)

Some might think this was because I got so tired of writing highly recommended that I didn’t even bother to write a farewell post explaining my decision. Some might think that my laptop was irreparably damaged in a ham slicing accident, severely limiting my ability to create posts for highly recommended. While these stories make for juicy gossip, they’re just not true. The significant lack of highly recommended content can only be attributed to one thing.

I highly recommend taking a break.

Why?

Mental Rejuvenation

There are two ways you can make your brain feel like garbage: trying to do too many things at once and doing nothing at all for an extended period of time. Before taking a break, I managed to become an expert in both, enduring a period of workload whiplash that made me feel like the contents of my skull were constantly bouncing around in the dryer. (It’s important to note here that “taking a break” does not mean neglecting everything and electing to stay in bed all day. “Taking a break” means adjusting your mental priorities so that you’re only doing things that really matter.) No more. A few weeks away from this award-winning(?) blog helped me gain fresh perspective on where exactly this thing is going. (You’ll find out where if I ever decide to tell you.) It also gave me an excuse to not look at my computer screen for an extra few hours a week, which is more key to mental rejuvenation than anything.

Stress Relief

Examining the differences between “mental rejuvenation” and “stress relief” is definitely splitting hairs. So I’m just not going to do it. But cut me some slack – I haven’t blogged in three weeks. I’m not at the top of my game, despite all of the rejuvenation that’s been happening up in here.

Time To Stop Thinking

Yes, I realize that you could use “break” time as time to think about things that you’ve been neglecting. But when you’re always thinking about everything, it’s more helpful to find times when you can't stop thinking at all. Thinking can be incredibly detrimental. (Think about all of the times thinking has caused serious trouble. Or maybe don’t think about it. Remember? Recognize? There’s got to be another word that means “thinking” without saying “thinking”. I’ll think about it and get back to you.) But don’t get me wrong – so can ignorance. It’s just that temporary ignorance makes me feel much, much better. At least I’m not ignorant to that.

Good For The Soul

I’m not really spiritual, but there are some things that just make you feel good in a non-physical way, like eating disgusting food or purchasing things you don’t need. Maybe those things are healing my soul. Maybe I should stop thinking so much about whether or not a “soul” exists. (See above.) All that I know is that taking a break scratches an itch that can’t be scratched in a lot of other ways. It does the whole body good, including the ghost-ish part that may or may not be inside of it.

A Better Use Of Time

How many times have you been in the middle of doing something and realized, “why the hell am I doing this?” How many times last week were you in the middle of doing something and realized, “why the hell am I doing this?” How many times have you been writing highly recommended and realized, “why the hell am I doing this?” (Since I’ve received far less guest submissions than I would like (I’m talking to you, Mike), I can assume that I’m the only one that’s ever experience this feeling.) The way we normally use our time is not always the best use of time. So when all of these wonderful benefits of taking a break coincide, I start to wonder if I should just be taking a break forever. But I think that if you’re always taking a break, you’re not really taking a break from anything at all. I don’t want to cause any more mental anguish by wading into what it means to live a life that’s productive.

There’s got to be one thing you don’t like about taking a break.

Coming Back After Taking A Break

Now that we’ve established that “breaks” must end for them to actually be “breaks”, I still want to complain. I don’t care if it’s basic – I love talking about how bummed I am to be back in the office after a long weekend; I think Garfield was one of the most important philosophers of his generation. The only good thing about never taking a break is that you never have to come back from one. But I still have that famous phrase tattooed across my chest: “It is better to have breaked and return than to have never breaked at all.”

I’m not going to pretend that I’m thrilled to be back on the highly recommended beat. But someone’s got to do it. In this world of divisiveness and negativity, there needs to be a voice of optimism, relentlessly committed to talking about how great things are, minus the one thing about them that isn’t so great. It’s my calling. And it’s a better call to get than a robo one.

love,

nicholas