Bonjour à toutes et à tous !
Last week, I spoke with a friend who has the particularity of always wanting to change jobs. For a month, she tests something, then leaves finally in training for a job opposite, then gives up everything and finds herself a little job that lasts a few weeks, etc … It’s been three years that she follows this lifestyle and seriously begins to get tired. As the conversation progressed, we realized that for her, her day ended when she left her job. And there was the problem. She had then gradually dropped all her personal activities (pottery, dance …) and zapped – voluntarily or not – all the little pleasures that she could not do without before and that he so much morale. Paradoxically to her unstable professional life (because she decides it), she died of fear when it comes to impermanence and can not relax and enjoy outside or in her professional life.
What are the lessons learned from these experiences and this discussion?
The world is impermanent
Everything can happen. Everything can change, overnight. Whether one has a job, considered « precarious » or not, everything can drop, or on the contrary, last. Nobody knows it, we can never be certain. Accepting this impermanence allows you to get rid of a lot of stress and learn to pay more attention to the present moment. If we are focused on the present moment, we will undoubtedly catch the warning signs of a possible end of our work.
Let’s take the time to get rich every minute of our time. Appreciating what you do at work promotes a good self-esteem: « I’m doing something important ». It is not always the work that is bad or does not suit us. To change them constantly will not solve all our concerns; we will only flee an activity that we blame while it is not always the cause of our malaise. « No activity in itself is interesting or uninteresting: it all depends on how much interest we have in it. » We have to learn how to cut the cord with our professional lives from time to time and we focus on our being above all else.
I did not say it was easy! Western culture places a great deal of importance on our business, our success, and even our revenues. And yet, we are not our job. We are human beings, with different cultures, values, hobbies, and we have to cultivate that to flourish.
* Of course, if your work environment is anxious, do not undermine your health and change if you can! But do not blame your profession if the real problem is not enjoying your personal time. We must perform a particular task for our work, and we feel compelled to do so, which is why we are the first to blame. And yet, nothing prevents us from taking time for ourselves apart from him! Organize to do things you like outside of work, and see if your point of view on your professional activity changes.
Take time for yourself
At work and at home, we are the same. Why should our day be limited to our hours of work? Let’s take time for ourselves before and after our working hours.
For this to go smoothly, we can start by walking to work or by bike for example, or at least halfway through the journey by changing the means of transport (if possible). This will allow us to enjoy nature, the cool morning wind, to admire the architecture around us, to shake our daily life …
We can also take the time (5 minutes) to organize our work day to adopt a global point of view. Once all our tasks are done and our « professional » day is over, we will be able to focus on our « personal » life and enjoy ourselves: reading a book, watching a movie, going to the movies, going to the theater, taking the time to listen to our favorite song, see friends / family members who do us good …
On weekends or « off » days, we can engage in activities that require a little more organization: take classes in dance, singing, yoga, meditation, pottery, painting, drawing , volunteering…
It is very important to take time for yourself and not to take on the tasks we need to do. Let’s change our way of seeing things and enjoy the moment, appreciate and love what we do: our self-esteem will increase and life will be sweeter!
We can not stop the waves, but we can learn to surf. Jon Kabat-Zinn.
See you soon,
Mary.
