The Mediterranean Pause
In many parts of the Mediterranean, the middle of the day has traditionally carried a different rhythm. Work slows, lunch is given time, and the afternoon offers something our constantly connected lives don't always make room for: a pause.
Rest is something we've become strangely uncomfortable with. We schedule it after everything else is finished, as though stopping must first be earned. But when researchers looked at the Blue Zones, they found routines for slowing down and releasing stress woven into everyday life. In Ikaria, Greece, that has traditionally included the afternoon nap.
This is one of those Mediterranean traditions we've experienced firsthand since buying our home in Sicily. There, the afternoon pause is known as riposo—quite simply, rest. As Americans, it took some adjustment. We quickly learned that if we wanted to visit a café, run errands, or get something done in town, we needed to get moving early. Depending on the business, doors may begin closing anywhere from late morning into early afternoon, and some won't open again until much later in the day.
At first, that rhythm can feel inconvenient when you're accustomed to businesses being open continuously from morning until evening. You find yourself thinking, But I need to get this done.
Sicily doesn't particularly care.
And maybe that's part of what we're learning there.
The day has a rhythm of its own. There is morning, when the cafés are busy and errands are done. There is lunch. There is the quiet of the afternoon. And then, later, shutters rise again, people return to the streets, and the evening begins.
Rest doesn't have to mean doing nothing. It can simply mean not hurrying.
Sometimes it means sleeping. Sometimes it's sitting after lunch, having coffee, talking with someone, reading for a while, or allowing the hottest part of the afternoon to pass without immediately rushing into the next task.
We haven't completely surrendered our American instinct to get things done. But Sicily keeps reminding us that every empty space in the day doesn't need to be filled.
We may not be able to close our businesses every afternoon or disappear for a two-hour lunch when we're back home. Most of us live lives that simply don't work that way. But we can borrow a little of the philosophy behind it.
Take lunch away from the computer. Sit outside with a cup of coffee. Leave the phone inside. Allow twenty quiet minutes to simply be twenty quiet minutes.
A pause is not wasted time.
Sometimes it is simply part of living.
With gratitude,
Jenn
