#139

Exhaustion is not a virtue. Naps heal. Laying in the sun heals. Doing absolutely nothing but daydreaming heals @the.holistic.psychologist

This post isn’t about you, it’s about me.

If it resonates, great. However, my motive in writing this is first and foremost a public way of raising my awareness and recovering from some of the traps that I regularly fall in to.

Just because I write about this sort of stuff doesn’t mean I’m not prone to the stumbles and struggles that litter my path.

Some of you might argue I’m more prone because I write about this sort of stuff – a post for another time 😊

I’ve grown up – personally and professionally - in a generation that valued hard work delivered over long days. The perceived correlation was strong – the longer and harder you ‘worked’ the more ‘successful’ you’d be. It was about the cumulative effect of hours not necessarily the accumulative effect of the number of hours.

I don’t remember hearing commentary about the quality or impact of the work; the recovery required to enable such long hours; or the impact on the adjacencies to the work e.g. health, family, relationships.

Makes me wonder sometimes who I’m actually doing it for! Yes, the necessary aspect of income to support the family. Yes, the purpose and direction that the work provides me. Yes, the potential impact on others of the work I do.

Or am I doing it for some accidental and unconscious narrative I picked up long ago?

Nicole LePera - who I picked the quote from also suggests…

…at the end of life no one says “I’m glad I kept going and going” or “I’m so glad I worked so much that I never spent afternoons in the sun imagining and dreaming”.

Nicole continues…we are conditioned to go and go because quite honestly – it’s addictive. And it helps us escape ourselves.

The last line poked me in the metaphorical eye.

If it’s some % true, however small, what am I trying to escape from? I grew up as an only child so I’m relatively comfortable doing things on my own. I’m relatively comfortable in my own company.

What could I possibly be trying to escape from?

I haven’t come to any conclusions yet but I’m willing to sit with the discomfort of the question.

Maybe napping and daydreaming might help me 😊

Question of the week 
If you’re so successful why are you working 70 hours a week

Don’t get hung up on the number but ponder the connection between successful and hours. Alternatively, ponder the question – If you’re not successful why are you working those hours a week?...and what might you being doing in those hours that gets in the way of your perceived success?

HBR Work Life Balance Article

Quote of the week
If you’ve never stared off into the distance your life is a shame Adam Duritz

Here’s to staring off into the distance now and again. Alone or together. Imagining far or further. Crystal clear or fuzzy grainy.

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That's all for this week. If you’ve been enjoying the Weekly Whispers please feel free to forward it to friends and anyone you think would benefit.

As always, please send me an email at [email protected] to send me your feedback or to let me know your thoughts.

Cheers

Pete