Too much of a good thing?

On the one hand, a vacation is very much needed. A break from the routine of classes stimulates our minds by changing pace. There is more time to study for exams that are coming up, catch up on work we have left to do, or just ignore school and work altogether and catch up on sleep, hang out, relax be with friends and get away from campus food. Finally, there's time to see all those movies that are coming out and just go and do what we want to do. It's a slow-down, to step back, take a deep breath and prepare to get ready for the next round.

On the other hand, just what is the right length of time? Too much time and a different routine emerges, sleep in, get up, eat lunch do nothing for a while and go back to sleep. And while the vacation seems like a break from moving too fast, really, we move to slowly. And then of course, because we have a break from our routines, we fill it up with things we normally aren't able to fit in, like doctor's appointments which of course need follow ups that we don't have time for because the break doesn't accommodate them. All the work we plan to catch up on to be ready when the pace of life picks up again never really gets done because there's always more time tomorrow to do work and it's vacation, lets sit and rest.

How much of a good thing is too much? At what point does the vacation stop being a good thing and become boredom on the calendar? Does this apply to all good things? If so, what about the good life? How good should the good life be?

Body and Health

How important is taking care of our bodies to leading the good life? On the one hand, we appreciate life with our minds and even ponder this question mentally. On the other hand, even a simple cold makes thinking that much harder. At the least, it is a distraction. A sentence is interrupted by a bout of coughing. At worst, it slows you down, thinking is impossible because you fall asleep as soon as you stop moving. Without being in good physical condition, it becomes nearly impossible to try and discover what the meaning of life is because our bodies are making demands to stop what we want to be doing and take care of it. In order to be able to contemplate anything, we have to maintain our physical health.

But then, when we are healthy again, we can feel our energy return to us. The coughing is gone like magic; it is as though it was never there. We are free now, not just to contemplate, but to act to participate in the world and have something to contemplate about. We regain our social connections which we temporarily lost; nobody wants to be around a sick person, particularly if they are contagious. It is depressing to be sick and that depression lifts with good health. But does illness make us appreciate our lives more when we are well? For some, yes. But for others, no. A cold can leave suddenly, or slowly fade so that we don't even realize it is gone for some time. Being sick is an obstacle to appreciating the meaning of life, but getting well again does not necessarily bring enlightenment.