work all the hours!!

ah, the age old comment I hear over and over and over and over….

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It is culture in my line of work to work so much overtime, or have many jobs. Honestly it is such a blessing to have that option. I even had someone say to me the other day ‘it’s grind time, you better be working all the hours’.

Now, of course this sounds super appealing, right… all those extra $$$ (dollars)!

I am like OOOH YES let’s stack the ole bank account. But honestly, the job is so taxing for my mind, body and spirit anyway with just regular hours. Any extra hours well….

I do get sucked in to it from time to time.

Because I’m like, yeah, maybe they’re right. I’m young with not a whole lot of responsibilities. Why not.

But the more I tune into myself, the more I realize, every time I try to push beyond my limits, my body fights back. I get sick (having to take days off), feel completely dysregulated, don’t have the capacity to eat well, and barely recognize myself being low energy, snappy etc. The exhaustion is unreal. It’s like my body is waving a giant “STOP” sign in front of me. This happened in a MAJOR way on Jan 1, 2024 and I’ll share about that soon.

Now, I understand where these people are coming from that encourage all the work all the hours. But, I think for a lot of these people they have a lifestyle to uphold, i.e. bills / payments / responsibilities up to their eyeballs. So I guess this gives them fire up their butts to be there and work all the extra hours. Or maybe they really enjoy it!!

For me? I do not enjoy it and or feel that I can give in even partial capacity. Which is major to me. If I’m showing up, I want to be able to be present and give in a good capacity.

Plus, I like to keep my life simple. No crazy payments, no keeping up with the Joneses, just doing my best to live within my means.

And you know what? I realize how much more energy I have when I step back from the hustle within this role and just allow myself to be. Life flows so much better for me in that I can more-so do things that actually make me feel good. I feel more creative, more me!

Now, of course, this is easier said than done…

For some reason, I tend to get amnesia from the last time I worked extra. I forget how awful it was the last time I overdid it.

But I’m learning.

Like with everything, it’s a process. And every time I choose to listen to my body instead of the noise, I feel so much better.

So, if you’re feeling drained, maybe ask yourself:

Are you doing certain things that your body is signaling please stop?

If so, what would change if you actually listened?

Just something to think about.