The Journal

Switching off can give us time and space to reflect

IT seems strange when you stop.

Actually, when the whole world around you begins closing down, so there’s no-one arranging anything for at least a couple of weeks. Then there’s fewer phone calls and emails and inevitably, you just become a part, of everything going quiet.

These are lovely days, after all the hectic preparatio­ns for Christmas, on top of everything else. After all that hurly-burly, now, for many of us, there’s the opportunit­y to relax, with those who are closest to us, and rest.

Of course, there are pantomimes and football matches, all sorts of sports, all the energy required to keep up with young people and the grandchild­ren’s new toys and some people have to keep up the routine of work. However, these short, dark days between Christmas and New Year and beyond to early January, seem primordial. The lack of light, the need for warmth, for food and drink, touch something deep within us. Something fundamenta­l and engaged with the rhythm of the planet, the change of seasons, for those of us dwelling in this place.

If we truly had a sense of our own being in this world, if the world was organised much more around the needs of human beings, perhaps we’d hibernate, at least for a while?

Perhaps this Christmas and New Year break is more socially acceptable? A more employment/employerfr­iendly way of enabling people to meet some of their deepest needs?

Once I stop fretting about all the things I might be doing, I’ve really come to treasure these few days of not doing very much, spending times with loved ones, the bairns. Re-connecting with some things which are really important, and doing it collective­ly, while so many of those other, really important things are set aside.

In switching off, for a while, you give yourself the space and the time to reflect. In putting urgent matters out of your mind, you might help provide an opportunit­y to come back to them refreshed, from a different angle. Come the New Year, you might be in a much better position to tackle them anew.

I’m a pensioner, I’m supposed to be retired, but whether or not I get paid for it, I do some sort of work, almost every day. So do most people. Surely it’s time for us to re-evaluate the nature of work and of pay. If we all work, if there are lots of jobs to be done, why can’t anybody who does anything, just get a living wage, and somewhere to live?

This is one of the richest countries, in a world which is so wellresour­ced that no-one needs to go hungry, or without a home, at a time of amazing technologi­cal change. We can do anything, or at least when we can put extraordin­ary machines on Mars, we should be able to look after everyone properly.

We could all, at some point, have a sabbatical. We should be able to take time for ourselves, to rest, to travel, to learn, to try something different.

What if we were paid for being good citizens? Clearing up litter when we see it, raising money for good causes, voting, taking part in surveys, working at elections?

Perhaps one of the most important parts of the next few days, is just taking the time to think, and read, and wonder. Perhaps be creative, I meet so many people who are so talented at painting, at music, at singing, in sports and games.

I can’t – rather don’t – do any of those things beyond spectating, but I can collect informatio­n about people’s lives and the more you do it, the more you learn.

Next year, 2024, in October, it will be one hundred years since my Mam was born. Back in 2015, when he would have reached his century, I wrote a little booklet about my Dad, ‘Harry’s Hundredth’. Next year, I’m going to collect my Mam’s own writings, for ‘Sally’s Centenary’. I won’t have to write a thing, the hard work will be in the editing, in trying to decide what to leave out, from all the letters, a poem published in a magazine, her four volumes of sermons and hundreds of photos of flowers and family and her garden.

I suppose it will be a ‘labour of love’ and I hope all that work, for the glorious, exciting General Election 2024 won’t get in the way. What a year 2024 is going to be, what opportunit­ies for all of us, to make the changes that our country and lots of new constituen­cies need.

Here’s me, starting to talk about work. Just when I was enjoying the thought of a few days luxuriatin­g in relative idleness, eating and sleeping and having a lovely time with the bairns.

Oh my, and then there’s January 6th. ‘Hawaay the Lads’, ‘Sunderland till I die’ and I have my ticket, so what great and glorious fun, it’s all going to be. Even if you support the other lot, I hope you have a (relatively) pleasant time.

All the best to everyone, and a very Happy New Year.