How do you destress

[Dave A]

One of the biggest hazards of running a business is stress. It just goes with the territory. Pounding away, day after day, trying to turn a buck.

If you don't manage it somehow, it is only a matter of time before you burn out. It's a problem that is easy to ignore amid all the demands that a business brings – but you ignore it at your peril. You have to have a plan.

So how do you destress?

What works best for me is to take a break at Mhlopeni Nature Reserve, for a few reasons.

• It's only two hours away – far enough to be away, but not too far (if you know what I mean).
• Most of the reserve has no cellphone reception. It makes a great excuse if someone is ticked off because they couldn't get hold of me on my cellphone, and it removes the temptation to just leave it on.
• You're forced to slow down to nature's natural pace.

Somehow going shopping just doesn't do it for me. There is the hustle bustle. The queues. Finding parking. The expense!
And it is only a matter of time before the novelty of those new goodies wears off.

The really cheap solution is just sitting at home idling away time. But it's only a matter of time before I start watching TV, and that certainly does not do the trick.

There is something special about settling into a Bush camp, lighting the fire, cracking a beer and just watching nature breath.
Walking up to a ridge with a great view of the valley in the morning and just whiling away the time watching nature pass by.

It fixes me in no time. Just marvelous.

So what works best for you?