Andreas Meichsner

The coffee lovers among us may be familiar with this: if they forgo their daily dose of caffeine, they develop a headache, are overcome with unbearable fatigue. It is a similar case with activity: if we suddenly lack constant activity, we initially react like addicts with withdrawal symptoms. When we finally reach the long-awaited freedom of leisure time, we often […] have to realize that we have also taken our «psychological self» with us, namely the special aspects of our personality that tend towards boredom, worry and anxiousness. In the midst of working life, which is often perceived to be controlled by other people, vacations are a haven of free time, which we strive to organize self-determinedly. It is this in particular that evokes enthusiastic longing but also unease. If the activity that normally provides structure, as well as the familiar habits connected with it, are no longer present, we are confronted with the fact that free time -because it is unstructured- is much more difficult to shape than we envisaged. Thus the deceleration generates fear as it often also means a confrontation with oneself, with fears, inner uncertainties, with boredom or a feeling of emptiness. So the most beautiful time of year presents us with a threshold, which we cannot cross without a certain amount of effort. We therefore begin to feverishly structure the «nothingness», to «put it in order» so that we can dispel this inner «insecurity» with external structure and subsequently «security», mainly being an expression of our hidden fears. It is now at the latest that we become aware of the painful tenseness of our contradictory need for freedom and security at the same time. In principle this is the delicate moment in which the existence determined by others is disrupted. The fact that we are dealing here with a century-old phenomenon, at the end of the day may testify to the humanness of this behavior and to the profound desire to be «all sorted».