Health First

I need to put my foot down about something. Here it is: burning yourself into the ground is not a viable way to live. I mean, it might work swimmingly in the short term, but that’s not how I assess these things. I plan to live happily to a ripe old age with minimal health problems and a variety of fulfilling facets to my life.

Why am I putting my foot down? Because I feel like we’re constantly being pushed from all angles to ‘do it all’ – which, in actual fact is not all of it, but you know what mean. It’s the job, the kids, the house, the social life, the gym membership and the social media-worthy holidays to the Maldives. More than anything, though, it’s the requirement for everything to appear to be under control, when in reality it very often isn’t.

I’m not saying everyone should up and immediately reorder their lives – these things don’t happen overnight. In the meantime, people need to realise that stress contributes massively to loads of common health issues, which in turn add an extra layer of pressure. This is actually the easy part – just sign up for a stress management course or something. That way, at least you’ll have a basis for making decisions about your life outside of ‘fight or flight’ mode.

One of the most common problems I’m seeing among the people I know is that of workplace stress. Management programs for dealing with it are offered by some employers, but a lot of people just push through while burning out their body’s resources. It really seems like a matter of how much you know – as in, as soon as you become aware of the health hazards of stress, it’s easy to prioritise managing it.

Ultimately, I’m a fan of minimising as well as managing stressors, but that’s just me. If you’re going to work insane hours in a demanding job, at least get some techniques for reducing the impact on your body.

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