Balancing Work & Play

Do what makes you happy!!!

I’m sure you’ve heard of this saying…. It couldn’t be truer for your health and wellness. In fact, it is even supported by research that happiness reduces stress, supports your immune system and even prolongs life. The earlier research would ask people how they felt about certain things and related these to disease conditions and quality of life. These types of studies can be affected by other external situations so may be prone to a bit of bias.

More recently, rigorous objective methods have been used where scientists have looked at markers in the blood. These studies supported earlier studies and show raised levels of stress hormones and lowered immunity in people who tended towards a pessimistic outlook. Participants that had more of a happy disposition had lower levels of chronic and other diseases, as well as lower levels of disabilities especially with age.

I’m sure you have no doubt that you feel better when happy, more energised when enjoying life and content when at peace, away from too many expectations and the bottomless the to-do-list.

One of the easiest ways to break free from the struggle and up level your quality of life is to have a good work and play balance… but how can I do this when I’ve got so much to do… I hear you ask?

Prioritise! Make your health a priority otherwise it won’t be able to sustain you. It’s completely up to you to make the decision if you want to pay for excesses later down the track.

None of us are invincible, unfortunately, so we do need to take responsibility for our own care when we are adulting. Much of the time it is only us with the unrealistic expectations about what we will fit into each day and week… even if it is sometimes coming from external, it can often be the case of others being over reliant on us and it might actually do them good to learn to do things for themselves sometimes.

If it’s a workplace thing, stand your ground and you may be pleasantly surprised just how little others care when you exert your boundaries. Aaaaaaand if you don’t, they will continue to use you if you are allowing this to happen!

Speaking from experience, I used to be the yes person all the time trying to always do my best to the point of excessive working hours and no gratitude in sight…. I later realised that it was my lesson to have boundaries and let others know how I felt. I spent days coaching myself into having that conversation. Finally, I had the courage to speak out and the bosses didn’t even blink an eye and said OK we will get someone else to help you. I nearly fell over! All it took was for me to stick up for myself and big picture learn to VALUE myself in the process. Bottom line is that this is what it often comes back to, valuing ourselves and our health and wellness over people pleasing 😉

I don’t at all mean not to do anything for anyone, I’m more so suggesting how important it is to consider ourselves within our own lives and checking in to see how we really feel. Are we feeling stressed and constricted or do we have room to breathe and have fun sometimes?