Taking a Break

I am a great believer in 24/6 rather than 24/7.
Certainly a business can run 24/7, and a title can be 24/7, but for an individual it seems work should be 24/6.  To me, it is right and proper that someone who has responsibility for others is available 24/7.  In a previous role I had, someone accidently overdosed and I was told about it on a week end.  It meant I needed to come in of a week end to ensure the place kept operating as expected, until a replacement was found.
I have mentioned him before, but it seems Ricky Stuart when he was the Australian Rugby League coach did it 24/7.   He now seems to coach 24/6 and appears to be a lot less manic.  I also know a person who had a choice of studying (which they needed to do) or visiting someone in hospital.  Despite what they perceived to be the cost, they did the latter, and when they went back to studying their productivity went through the roof and they passed the subject towards the top of their class.
What I have found is, if I attempt to do something 24/7 my productivity for one day is abysmal.  I may as well have done nothing.    I may love what I am doing but to attempt it 24/7 is for me not productive.  It seems my body clock is not made for “work” 24/7.  I need time for rest and recuperation. 
For me it is doing something different.  For others it is being in a vegetative state.  I don’t think anything is right or wrong of itself, but what is right for the individual.  I try to make one day each week a “no commitments” day.  I try to plan my life so that I do what is good for me, rather than what is seen as necessary for me.  That is, I make no appointments, and do not expect to see anyone that day.  It is my recovery time.
This way of thinking is not real popular these days.  It seems 24/7 is expected.  That concerns me, as I have seen too many burn out as a result.  My thinking is, just because something is done, does not mean it is right.  I have known a number of students who have given the lecturer what they want, even if they did not believe it themselves.  Perhaps it all comes back to what really matters to us.
Of course it is easy to say in retirement, but it is what I have attempted to do for much of my life.  Pete Seeger wrote a song called “Turn, Turn, Turn” which was made famous by the Byrds about there being a time for everything.  To me there is a time to refrain from something no matter how much I enjoy it, or how necessary it is seen to be.  Taking a break does me good.