This is your life, you have numerous projects on the go with deadlines rapidly closing in. It’s your contribution, your input that’s needed, and if you don’t oblige, then things will come to a crashing halt, this if you fail to deliver and not fulfill your duties.
You work these long massive hours, you don’t bother to delegate any of the tasks to others, or ask for time extensions. What you’re proud of however is that you’re always able to get the work completed. But as a result, you hardly ever have any down time for your own.
What you definitely don’t have time for or can’t afford is to get sick in any way, for any length of time. Thankfully, you’re relatively healthy, and getting sick isn’t something that you worry about.
But illness happens, then what. All your jobs and deadlines can instantly come down to a sudden crashing stop. Working so hard like the way you are, will knock you off balance and leave you susceptible for major health issues.
You Think You’re Healthy
Realize that just working too hard can make you sick. We’ve all heard the myth that you can work yourself to death. Sitting at your desk, working endless hours, piling up the stress with no leisure, as the years compound, can result in serious issues such as heart disease.
Exhaustion is a very real possibility, and at the very least, it’s known to weaken your immune system. But you think it won’t happen to you, that you and your superior work ethic and your immune are impenetrable.
So you progress to work harder and longer, take on more projects, week after week. You hide behind your work as it’s your life, your work is your personality, and the health of your body becomes secondary.
Working From Home Can Be Worse
For those who think that they enjoy the luxury of working from home, there’s that fine line between “at work” and “not at work,” which can become nonexistent. What often results is working late into the night, every night, then back again early in the morning.
There’s no division. You don’t even bother to get dressed or leave the house for days, working endlessly, going stir crazy, creating an unhealthy atmosphere.
Then you get sick, even just the common cold. All you care about is if you could crawl to your desk, and as long as your fingers can pound the keyboard, then you’re fine.
This can become unhealthy and blurry, as you’re working when you should be in bed resting. Working will suck the energy out of your body that you should be using to recover and fighting off infection.
People Do Understand
If you do happen to get ill and go out of commission, and you feel you’re not up to capacity and not be able to do your work, that the brain is incapable of doing the job, then the world will usually understand.
Most are aware that people get sick for a variety of reasons, so at times the wishes are to just get healthy. Most that’s connected will usually understand, and most will comply, reschedule for when you’re back to work.
Most Are Flexible
If you do feel down and out and need to cancel, most are flexible enough to postpone to a better more convenient time. If it no longer fits in yours or their schedule, then you could give them the option of you passing the work to someone else.
Most will understand and will move along, while others will stay with you, and will accept your work at a later date when you’ve recuperated.
So what you’ll realize is that most deadlines are soft target dates, they can be pushed forward if needed, this similar to the one’s that you set for yourself. Most will build in time cushions, and can be changed if absolutely necessary.
Time Te Recuperate And Reflect
What life becomes is a series of rushing around, and it becomes rare to get the opportunity to slow down to a stop, and then think about what you’re doing in life, where you are.
To witness perspective on how your daily activities fit into your longer term goals and direction. Any type of downtime offers you the opportunity to recalibrate if needed, adjust, and then slowly begin picking up the pace in the proper direction.
It should give you the opportunity to find out what you really care about and enjoy doing, and what you want to do with the rest of your life. Taking time to reflect can always be helpful for anyone. One thing for certain, you don’t want to work yourself that hard to become that sick again.
Life Is More Important Than Work
This is perhaps the most difficult lesson to grasp, and for some, they need to be reminded over and over again. Being a workaholic is not healthy. Putting work ahead of life and everything else is not ideal.
Sure it can expand your career, but it does not help your happiness or health quotient. Being a workaholic, similar to any other “holic,” wreaks havoc on your health, friends and family, and everyone else concerned.
It’s always good to remind yourself that there’s other people in your life. That our body was not designed to undergo all that stress, and all that rapid pounding on the heart and brain isn’t safe.
What matters in the long run is your health and having a life you enjoy. At the end of your life, if you need to reflect back and wonder if it was really worth it, all of the sacrifices that you’ve made. If you need to ask, then most likely it wasn’t.