The Importance of Having Fun

Are you taking breaks? If your work or volunteerism involves violence prevention, it's so important to take a break and get involved with activities that are not related to violence. I recently took a Chinese cooking class at Lan's Cooking School in Durham, NC. In addition to being great fun, I learned some great recipes and met some very nice people - including Lan. She taught us about cooking and Chinese culture. She also told us about a great Chinese grocery store in Cary, NC, that I went to this week and found some great deals on some of the essentials for Chinese cooking.

Remember to take care of yourself. Secondary trauma, or vicarious trauma, is a real concern for advocates. Getting involved in other activities that are not related to violence prevention is a way to keep balance in your life. It's a way to remember all the wonderful things that life has to offer that have nothing to do with violence.

What will you do this week to give yourself a break from the intense work of violence prevention?

Here are five fun ideas:

1. sign up for a cooking class - there are lots of choices. You can sometimes find demonstration classes that are only one night if you are short on time or you can take longer classes.
2. go outside! Walk, run, cycle, clean up your yard, help a neighbor in the yard - it may be freezing where you are - so bundle up! I'm in NC and the weather has been fantastic to be outside - not too hot, not too cold.
3. visit with friends - laugh and joke and have fun!
4. watch a comedian. I just watched Mike Birbiglia on tape. You can visit his website at http://www.birbigs.com/. Don't have time to watch a whole show? Go to http://www.youtube.com/ and search for your favorite comedian. The odds are that they will be there. You can also find great skits for Saturday Night Live, if that's your thing. You get the picture - if you like it and find it funny, it's probably on http://www.youtube.com/.
5. go to a museum - again - lots to choose from. I went to the NC Museum of Natural Science today (http://www.naturalsciences.org/). Four floors of fun! To make it even better - take children with you! I did and it made it all the more fun.