Our well-being should be our priority. But nowadays we are so busy that we tend to prioritize in a reverse order. By doing so we can seriously compromise our quality of life and our physical, mental and emotional health.
According to the international classification of diseases, burn-out is considered to be a work-related phenomenon but this is not the only cause.
With the increasing cost of living and the bills that accumulate, we are more and more inclined to work harder and harder to earn a salary that allows us to live a decent life. However, this leads us to put aside other fundamental needs.
We spend many hours a day working for a company, or for ourselves, reducing the time for good meals, for resting, for spending time with our family and we underestimate the impact this can have on our life.
Certainly, many among us cannot afford to work less because they are responsible for their family and they shall provide for their needs.
However, even in such cases, a work-life balance should be found, because life is much more than our work.
The excessive time spent at work and the short time dedicated to ourselves practicing sports, walking in a forest or simply being lazy, in the long run will harm our health up to a level that it would be difficult to recover.
More and more often people suffer from post-traumatic stress, over-fatigue, nutrition problems, relationship difficulties due to exhausting and stressful days spent at work that do not leave us time to fully enjoy our life and do activities that really make us happy.
If you think you are in this situation, you should understand one thing: no salary is worth your health, no benefit rewards you for the wear and tear you have at the end of a working day that has drained off your energy and your joy of living.
If you currently have no other choice than continuing with your present work, try to do something that is good for you every day to find your work-life balance. If everything you do daily is stressful and exhausting, the time will come when you won’t be able to go on any longer and the consequences will be more serious. It will take you longer to regain your optimal well-being.
Work is an important part of life but of course life is not just work. As you know, there is more: family, friends, health, in short, life. Don’t let work absorb all of your time!
Nothing is worth your being unhappy. Your work will continue even without you, while relationships and health must be taken care of, and followed up carefully.
You can find another job, but you cannot replace your family, your friends and above all your health. Remember to take care of yourself in order to live your life fully.
For more on well-being, please visit my blog crisbiecoach.
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Life first. Work second. That’s the healthy way round. Great advice Cristiana 🙏
Thank you David!
Great blog. Loved it. Thanks 🙂
Thank you!
Thank you for this. PTSD is so often missed and now, sadly, more prevalent than ever. We really do all need to be kinder to ourselves – and each other.
Thank you for this beautiful comment!
Thank you.
Great Post Cristiana. You’re so right about the need to pay attention to our own needs. We too often ignore them and I agree, we suffer
Thank you Brenda for your wise words.
These are very wise words Cristiana. For me, it took a cancer diagnosis to realize I needed to take time to look after my health. I remember a very wise person once saying that if I were to drop dead tomorrow, my workplace could replace me but my family couldn’t. I have never forgotten those words.
Thank you Michelle, that person was indeed very wise. I was burnt out twice because of my job and after the second time I decided to stop pursuing a career. A good job that I like, surrounded by nice and supportive people was and is more than enough.
That’s exactly how I felt, too, when I decided to step back from people leadership. It was the best move I ever made.
Love this! I often think we end up living our lives thinking or unconsciously being told the sole purpose of life is to work hard. Now I don’t condone hard work and realize for many people it’s a necessity for survival. The problem I have with this is that people aren’t really taught how to learn about themselves and structure their life around what they value so that their life is most optimal for them.
This post is 100% truth- thanks Cristiana!
Thank you Todd For commenting!
“The excessive time spent at work and the short time dedicated to ourselves practicing sports, walking in a forest or simply being lazy, in the long run will harm our health up to a level that it would be difficult to recover.” Such a great point. We always think we can “make-up” for something but that isn’t always true! Thanks for a great post, Cristiana!
Thank you Wynne for commenting !
Good stuff.
Thank you Thomas!