How I Spend My Days Off — Let Me Tell You

Hey there — thanks, truly, for always reading the butler journal. This is Yoshio. Today I thought I'd tell you how I spend my days off.

On weekdays my job is to welcome guests at the door, so I'm on alert from morning till night. It sounds grand to say I put a whole day's ease into a single "welcome home," but really it just means I've got my back ramrod-straight all day long. So on my days off, at least, I make a point of taking it easy. I don't cram the day full of plans. That's the trick.

My mornings off usually start late. I wake up slow, brew a strong coffee, and just space out. And that "spacing out" is surprisingly important. When you're on alert all the time, you stop noticing where you're carrying needless tension in your own movements. It's in those do-nothing hours that it suddenly hits me — "ah, my shoulders were a bit tight yesterday." Resting isn't running away from the work. It's the time to settle my mind for the next guest I'll greet.

Other than that, I'll drift around the neighbourhood on my bike, or take my camera for a walk. No hard thinking — just pedalling and feeling the wind. That alone clears my head no end. I always tell the younger lads, too: "Don't skip your rest just because you keep saying you're busy." It's only by resting properly that you can do good work.

And that's about how my days off pass. Everyone — make yourself a do-nothing day now and then, would you! See you again in the journal.