TAKE A BREAK

"Juice...I want juice." These are words we have become familiar with in our home. Every time he wants to sleep, our two year old son will call for his drinking bottle. Now he randomly asks for some juice during the day with friends. No problem. But when he is about to sleep...?... Its "juice...I want juice." No matter what time of day it is. And by the way, there is usually not a way around this demand for his sleep-time juice bottle. We have tried replacing the juice with water; it has not worked.

Two weeks ago, my son went to visit his grandparents (he actually demanded for this holiday visit). We keep getting reports of how he shocks everyone with what he says and his intelligence, but the biggest shock for me and my wife is the report that he no longer asks for his drinking bottle when sleeping. We are now looking forward to meeting our son this week when he comes back.

See, there is always some change that happens whenever we take a break or step away from our usual environment. Being away from home helped my son to get over his drinking habit (hehe).

How do you handle a situation where you can't seem to understand a thing about a subject you are trying to study? Or that seemingly simple problem that is proving to be hard to solve; how do you handle that? What about your business or office life? Are you struggling to get back to your winning ways?

Sometimes we get so worked up with life when all our efforts to do well seem to lead us nowhere. We may even find another thing or habit to hide our struggles. The problem with my son was not the juice in the bottle, but the desire for the juice when sleeping. Replacing the juice with water was a useless gimmick that never helped. The schemes we come up with during personal struggles usually lead us nowhere - especially if we put ourselves under so much pressure to impress.

The best act of wisdom I have come to learn in life is to simply take a break. Take a break from your usual daily routine, from your usual circle of friends, from your usual environment. Just step back a little bit. Do something different. Find a hobby, interact with friends. If possible, take leave from work.

When you take a break from something, a lot happens. Growth, clarity of mind, rejuvination, peace and maturity, all happen when you take a break. Even some habbits are broken. So why struggle? Stay alive to your issues and take a break.