It’s time to see how your perspective is leading to burnout and an unfulfilled life. Below are 3 ways you might be adulting all wrong:
1. You focus on being busy.
Source: GeekyBro
All we see online lately is Hustle, Hustle, Hustle. We use it as a badge of honor. I get it as adults there are so may important things to do that play and self-care often take a back seat. I have first hand experience with this. The first year at the Digital Marketing Agency that I co-founded was great. We worked hard and played hard. I was doing work that I loved, enjoyed going to the office every day and honestly it didn’t feel like work. A year in and we hit a few bumps in the road, and things got serious real fast. The first thing to go during this period was playtime. What I didn’t know then that I know now was that by not taking breaks to recharge, I was depleting my self efficacy levels. Long days with minimal breaks combined with lack of sleep was a recipe for disaster and even checking email felt like a daunting task. I felt like I was broken and was ashamed to admit it. I knew I needed to make a shift when I was driving home after a long day at the office exhausted and dozed off for a split second. It was time for a change.
The goal is to work smarter not harder.
2. You go too hard on the weekend or on vacations
Source: Hostgarcia
Are you the type of person that needs a vacation to recover from your vacation? Come Monday morning are you still drained from a weekend of raging?
This is a result of your busy sickness and your inner self is mad at you for overworking it. The point is that everyone needs time to recharge and weekends and vacations can serve this purpose. You should end your weekend/vacation excited to go back to work feeling energized and recharged. I understand that work-life balance is a bunch of BS….I believe in work-life harmony. Looking for strategies to reduce stress? Check out this article on how to reduce stress at work.
3. You forgot how to play
Source: Giphy
In your quest to be an adult you forgot how to play.
As adults we are wired to play. According to my play mentor, Gwen Gordon, when you play you catch a glimpse of our unbounded true nature. Unfortunately we often hide our true selves in order to be what we think people want us to be.
“The opposite of play is not work it’s torture.” Dr Stewart Brown
A great way to rediscover your play personality is to think about how you used to play when you were young. How can you do a version of that as an adult? For me as a kid I was a big prankster, and loved to play video games. Nowadays I enjoy doing improvisation. If it is the middle of the day a 10 min game of Crossy Road is just enough to give me a power up.
How did you play as a kid? Leave a comment and let me know.
If you are tired of “Adulting” the way society thinks we should you should sign up for my mailing list so you can be alerted the next time I offer a Happiness Retreat!