If you’re one to live on the run, perhaps it’s time for you, Miss Little Bumblebee, to slow down. You know you’re perpetually busy when your life is spent rushing from one appointment to another, buying groceries and picking up the children in between lunch breaks.
While it may all seem bearable at first, there will come a time before you realize that you need to get out of this neverending cycle of stress.
It’s easy to say you want to cut back and say no to work but getting it done is the difficult part. There is nothing more important than living a healthy and balanced life and sometimes
Here are some telltale signs that show that perhaps you need a timeout in life:
You worry about not having time
Do you know what constant worry feels like? It’s the demon that eats up every positive emotion you have and fills it up with endless mental to do lists. You spend every free second checking your calendar, rescheduling and wishing you had more time.
Spotaneity what?
For the past few years, everything you’ve done or worked on has been planned weeks ahead. There’s no room for spontaneity or god forbid, fun. Not once have you bought a movie ticket on a whim, crashed a party or took a midnight roadtrip anywhere because you always had something else more important to do, like your laundry. Spontaniety is healthy for the soul because it not only adds spice to our routine but it also stimulates our brain with new experiences.
Meals on wheels
We don’t mean pizza but you constantly eating in cars or while walking from one place to another with a phone in one hand and your sandwich in the other. It’s important to savour a meal at a leisurely pace to ensure it gets properly digested (read: chew slowly). In most office cultures, relationships are built during mealtimes so if you’re always skipping meals with the colleagues, chances are you won’t be very likeable.
Friends? What friends?
Friendships are usually the first to go down the drain when you place your work first in place of your relationships. You know you’re too busy when you can’t remember the last time you’ve talked to your best friend or you only meet up with family during festive seasons. It starts with you rejecting going out with them and slowly but surely, your friends stop asking you out and you wonder what’s wrong. If you’ve heard one too many, “You’re always so busy, we never see you anymore” then perhaps it’s time to take a step back.
Relationships are important as they provide us support when we’re at our lowest but like all things in life they need to be continuously nurtured and sowed. It takes effort but it’s worth it and it’s something money can’t buy.
Hitting the snooze
Sleeping on weekends doesn’t make up for the loss of sleep you’ve accumulated during the weekdays. Staying up to work is counterproductive as you’ll feel tired and lose focus throughout your actual waking hours. Plus your body’s organs and cells repair themselves during the hours of 11pm to 3 am so resting during that period is important to stay healthy! Getting good sleep improves our memory, boosts our ability to empathize with others, heightens our sex drive and increases our problem-solving skills.
You don’t indulge
Why earn all that money when you don’t even have time to spend it? We work hard so that we can splurge on little luxuries like a pampering session at the spa, a holiday or a brand new walk-in wardrobe but if you’re constantly climbing up the corporate ladder and saying yes to work that’s not yours to do, then when are you ever going to sit back and enjoy your achievements?
Listen to your body
You know your body is telling you to slow down if you constantly feel tensed, your heart pumps a tad bit too loudly at times, you’re often restless, you’ve started developing migraine and you often have aches and pains all over. Remember to go for annual medical and dental checkup to ensure you’re in tip top condition. Have you heard the story about the man who was found dead at his work cubicle after 5 days and no one noticed? You don’t want to be next…
Don’t get agitated if people tell you to take a break, it only means they care and see signs of you self destructing. You may think, “Of course I need to be busy, I have bills to pay and mouths to feed!”
It’s important to enjoy what you do and to do it well but often time, work consumes most people and it’s easy to fall into the busy trap if you’re not careful. Before you experience a burn out, sit down and if you need, take a day off to evaluate your priorities.
If you can’t manage your household and work together, don’t be a scrooge and consider paying for part time help. Learn to outsource and delegate work. We understand that change doesn’t happen overnight but take baby steps and you’ll get your life back in no time!
