What is the difference between relaxing and just being tired?

In My Humble Opinion
1

When I come home from work ( I have a 10 minute commute) I’m still wired. I have to be, because I still have to work the second shift: my part in the evening chores.

Sometime during the evening chores, tiredness sets in. When it does, I either want to collapse in bed, or I sit down to do something that will distract me enough to drown out my mental “I really still should…”-lists. Usually that means watching some dumb dvd-series.

Neither the frantic chores, the frantic distraction seeking, or the straigh-up exhaustion, feels much like the descriptions of relaxation I read in magazines.

Relaxation seems to be a state of having both physical and mental energy to do something I enjoy, apart from work of chores. If that is what relaxation is about, I suspect I’m only relaxed in the weekends.

How about you? What do you do “to relax” ? And what do you do when you are “relaxed”? And what do you do when you are home, but too tired to relax?
Some related concepts: an article on “unstructured time vs wasted time” that is a little too self-satisfied. You know, written by one of those moms that prides herself on not letting her kids watch TV. As if.

2

When I’m tired and literally fatigued, I rest/sleep, to put it simply. When I’m relaxed or trying to relax, I generally slow things down and try to achieve mental/physical homeostasis.

The former involves taking the time to refill the tank, usually on a dedicated schedule. With relaxing, I’m typically on cruise/idle to avoid burning significant energy. In other times, the latter could include light activity, discussion, reading, or anything that doesn’t require exertion of too much effort to accomplish, usually mental.

I’ll also relax to avoid getting tired, or relax because I am tired.:slight_smile:

On the idea of wasting time, I don’t think either of the above really qualifies. And in the example pulled from your link, simply not remembering what you did doesn’t qualify, either. I see wasting time as dodging something you specifically need to do, which generally can’t be handled at a later time. Now obviously, you can typically find ways to make more productive use of your time, but again, that is not an inherent waste, in my opinion.