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Why is it so important to find balance in our fast-speed world?
September 2, 2008 - Follow me on Twitter
The new Slowing Down Life category came to life because of a number of fairly tragic and troubling events that occurred during the summer of 2008 ranging from witnessing a suicide on the subway in June to having to through three Dell computers within three months before they sent one that actually worked (from early April until late July).
From April 2008, it seems that I’ve been hit by a string of events that have been upsetting, incredibly stressful and in some case heartbreaking.
I kept thinking that it was okay (I was okay), that I could handle it all and that it would have little impact on my life as long as I kept moving forward.
It’s true that on the surface, I doubt anyone even knew that I was dealing with a tremendous amount of stress because I just didn’t let it show.
To keep my mind preoccupied and not think of everything that was happening, I kept piling on the work (and piling on work and piling on more work). My days were getting longer and my sleep time was getting shorter and shorter.
It finally hit me that I was not doing fine when I started asking myself when was the last time I actually smiled, laughed or when was the last time I didn’t feel at 11am like I was ready to go back to bed until the next morning because I was not sleeping restfully.
That’s when I made the decision that I had to stop and slow down or else I was going to hit an emotional and physical wall and I was going to hit it hard.
Here are eight things that I did to turn things around and that started giving me hope that I might someday **soon** find the joy I used to find in my days and not feel drained all the time:
1. The first thing I did was to take stock and start “offloading” certain activities that were not priorities.
2. I cut out pretty much any activity that was not bearing fruit for the past three months.
3. I started ending my days earlier and going to bed earlier (did you see my post of 5 Tips to sleeping in on weekends?).
4. I became more proactive at reaching out to friends instead of keeping it all inside when I was having a bad day.
5. I made “dates” with friends for dinner, coffee, festivals and many other activities.
6. I stopped postponing going to see movies or even renting DVDs on the premise that every hour of my day was devoted to growing my business.
7. I went back to my fitness regime on a more regular basis and didn’t miss days based on the fact that I was too emotionally or physically exhausted to even think of exercising.
8. I decided to create an entire category on the topic of slowing down life to be more accountable for my journey and also be able to speak to some experts who might be able to help me further.
Since making that decision a few weeks ago to focus on finding balance in our 24/7 world, I’ve opened up to friends, colleagues and contacts and I quickly found out that I was far from being alone.
I’ve even spoken to people who have revealed that their schedule are so incredibly busy, they’re constantly running from one event to another, they have too many work related or social activities and they were running around like crazy, but at the same time they were feeling very much alone and very much isolated. I found that to be a strange dichotomy that I unfortunately understood too well.
I’m far from having found any kind of balance in my life because I currently spend far too much time working and not enough time doing non-career related activities, but I’m determined to learn how to strive for a better quality of life and I hope you’ll want to join me in this journey.
Photo by Oslo in the Summertime
We want to know what you think. Do you agree? Or disagree? Leave us a comment!
Posted by Beauty Match on September 2, 2008 | Permalink
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Topics: Body & Mind Health, Slowing Down Life |
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5 Responses to “Why is it so important to find balance in our fast-speed world?”
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September 8th, 2008 at 11:00
Hi,
Thanks for this very candid post. I am sure many people are feeling frustrated and overwhelmed and would definitely benefit from your 8 tips! I sure did!
Great article! Stumbled and Dugg!
Henry
September 8th, 2008 at 11:04
Thanks for some good suggestions, especially numbers 2, 3 and 7.
September 8th, 2008 at 16:13
It’s funny that we work hard for a better life, when all the time it’s right under our nose.
It seems to be a thing that a lot of people are going through and coming to the same conclusion, myself included.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:43
Thank you so much Jan, JEvans and Henry for your comments.
It’s a frustrating world at times and there are a lot of pressures and unless we make the effort to stop … we will not be able to survive this world with a healthy state of mind.
We do work hard and many of us are “on” 24/7 and I think it’s not good for our well being.
I hope this candid post might help someone else take time and stop and re-evaluate their lives.