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Pa ge 1 2 T hu rs da y, A ug us t 6 , 2 01 5 - T he IF P - H al to n H ill s - R ea l E st at e Le ad er - w w w .th ei fp .c a SheridanNurseries 12266 Tenth Line | Tel: 905-873-7547 A convenient, hassle-free way to get your investments home safely and planted by an expert. Planting & Delivery Service 25 years experience, over50,000 installs and 1000s of satisfied customers. BOLTON • BRAMPTON • BURLINGTON • GEORGETOWN •MARKHAM •MISSISSAUGA NEWMARKET • OAKVILLE • ORANGEVILLE • OSHAWA • PICKERING •TORONTO WINNER 6 YEARS WINNER 4 YEARS AS SEEN ON PROPERTY BROTHERS 1.800.449.3808 BROCKWINDOWS.COM SHOWROOM HOURS: Mon-Fri 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Sat 10:00 am - 3:00 pm FOR SAVINGS Limited Time Offer WINDOWS&DOORS IN AUGUST 20% OFF NoMoneyDown, No Interest &NoPayments Until 2016. *Available OAC. Orders must be placed by August 31, 2015. Not to be combined with other offers. SALE ENDS AUGUST 31ST COMMENT The Challenge: Take a pause "I'm so busy." Sound familiar? When you ask most people how they're doing these days, this is likely the reply that you'll hear. I know I'm guilty of repeating these words. But why is this such a widely-accepted answer? It's almost like if we're not "so busy," we're not doing life right. I started thinking more about our soci- etal disease of being busy after attending a recent public meeting on the Toronto Premium Outlets' desire to be open on all holidays except for Christ- mas. During this meeting I heard a phrase that's new to me: a common pause day. A common pause. What is that? Sadly, this con- cept will be foreign to most people of my genera- tion and younger because we barely know what it's like to live in a time where collectively pausing as a society exists. I looked into the phrase and it appears to have been penned around 1990 when the debate about Sunday shopping took place. I grew up in the '80s, and when I thought about it more I could recall a time when it seemed like the world actually did slow down one day a week. But several decades of "busy" have happened since then, making this common sense idea of pausing seem like a distant memory. Today, common pause days are defined under the Retail Business Holidays Act by nine days per year when stores are supposed to be closed. And businesses can apply for exceptions to this rule. But the demise of the common pause goes be- yond shopping. There's a bigger picture here out- side of being available all the time for customers and clients. I think society has decided that in gen- eral, pausing is no longer important, going against all mental health advice for peace and happiness. Pair that with today's technology that connects people 24/7 and we've essentially established a way of life where we, as individuals, have to be "open for business" all the time. When someone sends a text, email or Facebook message there's almost an unspoken expectation for an instanta- neous or at least quick reply, day or night, seven days a week. Some days this is nothing short of exhausting. Unless something is a matter of life or death, is it really the end of the world if we don't reply for a few hours? I'm challenging myself and others to put down their phones when the work day is over, or at least pick it up less frequently, and enjoy a pause. It might just be what we need. By Melanie Hennessey mel_hennessey@hotmail.com The View From Here