Over-doing it...Again

I know, far too well, what it is to "overdo it."

I have known for a while. No, I don't over-eat. I don't over-drink. I'm not an exercise fanatic or a health food nut. I am not OCD (at least, not by all accounts), so I am not necessarily a control freak (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!).

Let me qualify what I stated earlier: Around Thanksgiving, I always over-eat. Sometimes when I'm doing my eyebrows, I do over-pluck them (that really is something that is such a "bad" thing to do...). But, on a more serious note, from time to time, I must admit to being a bit of a workaholic. Only at certain points, though. And this can be one of the deadliest vices a person can have: A situation where he or she fails to pace one's self, and create a kind of balance in one's life whereby he or she can go to sleep without having literal "jitters" from being so "wired" and tired. I know this feeling. And I know the onset of this trend (as I originally stated, I have been a repeat offender).

It starts with the long hours at work for more than one week, even though you still take the work home with the intention of doing still more work there. It's just "one more thing" that needs to be done. But it is never just one more thing. The To Do list never gets completed, and you begin to recognize this, much to your chagrin. And, here's where it gets evident that you're not disengaging from the day's task: even when you take the work home, you don't touch it until you get back at the job the next day. Ladies and gentlemen, that is a sign - a "saving grace," if you will - that you need to re-evaluate what you're doing and how you're viewing yourself and your role.

You MUST build recreation time into your busy schedule. You MUST be able to take time to eat lunch, sometimes all by yourself, if your job requires you to do the obligatory "face time" thing, more times than not. You MUST be able to leave the work on the desk sometimes -- even when there are "too many people depending on you" because you are in a "you-just-don't-know-the responsibilities-I-hold" kind of position. Stress kills and maims far too many for this not to be true. But it doesn't have to claim you. And you know I'm right.

One of the difficult things about being really good about what you do is knowing when to turn off the gift, so to speak. You hear about CEOs of extremely successful corporations suffering from being workaholics all of the time. As well as really good teachers (overworked and underpaid), and those that work behind the scenes making things happen (makeup artists, movie directors, detectives, political activists, etc). Because we understand that we make the world go round. If we were not in place, where, in the world, would all of us be?

The answer: Exactly where we will be when you and I are no longer on this earth (i.e., we go the way of the earth, as we all must). I think that at some point one can become tied up in a web of creating a kind of competition with one's own reputation (when they know they occupy a position in a certain class of few elite), often setting up our own expectations against near-impossible standards: of our own making. Don't let this happen to you.

Keep your career in perspective: it is only one portion of who you are. It represents only a part of what you do. Your character, how you impact the people you know, like family, friends, neighbors, church family, etc, is far more important. The process (Life) is more important than the product (any individual tasks and activities you can come up with) - a variation on the mantra that "the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts." Let this precept guide you in how you approach your work, and life, in general, and you will find the time you've been looking for to relax. Because you will appreciate that you are no good to anyone "dead." And that you do "need to get a life" -- and you can.

In the end, what makes you "good" is your set of experiences. But some of the best training, the sources of the best ideas, happen outside of the work environment. We hear about finding a niche and working it, but embrace diversity in your life. In academia, a liberal arts education is still considered valuable in helping to prepare (academically) the well-rounded citizen, not because it is necessarily an overly-specialized or "superior" education. But because it provides a global view, of all aspects of life. You, too, must embrace opportunities to do something different. Something fun, even. Even as diversity of activity will help you do your job better, it will also enhance how you relate to your loved ones, family and friends better. Most importantly, it will help you learn to not take yourself (as narrowly-defined by your job) too seriously. The job will be there when you get back in the office.

So take some time for you: because you can't afford not to. And: You will be glad that you did.