We all know
someone who just retired and then suffered a heart attack or stroke… never
having the opportunity to enjoy their free time.
It’s a familiar story to everyone. The boss keeps heaping more and more work on your desk, giving you tighter deadlines, more responsibilities and longer hours. You’re fearful to say anything, despite a rising stress level, increasing exhaustion and less time with your family because there is always someone else waiting in line to replace you.
If you’re an entrepreneur, you worry about a steady stream of customers who will buy your products or clients who are interested to purchase your services. You must constantly juggle marketing, networking, customer service, research and development and accounting. You may end up working more hours each day than when you worked for someone else.
What is your main goal in working so hard? Did you say money? Many do work just to pay bills, but what motivates some people to work such long hours and so hard that they are losing precious moments right here and now with the people they love the most? Is fear motivating you to regularly clock in more than 40 hours a week… fear of losing your job, fear of not making enough money, fear of not being the best, fear of__________? You fill in the blank because our fears are as plentiful as the number of people.
I want you to think about a few things if you are waiting for retirement to slow down and relax:
- Research has shown that regularly working longer than a 40-hour workweek makes us less productive and just very tired.
- So often we hear about friends or acquaintances that recently retired, only to have a heart attack, stroke or other fatal or debilitating disease. So much for enjoying retirement.
- While we are so busy working, our children grow up. We not only miss some important events, but we miss the opportunity to really connect when it’s the most important and we never get that time back.
- According to WebMD, 75-90% of all physician office visits are stress-related. Chronic illnesses and multiple disease processes are directly correlated to stress; that in turn is increased when working so many hours. Better health depends on less stress.
- Working so many hours is future living. It assumes that if you work hard now and make money, you’ll reap the rewards in the future. The problem with this thinking is that you are missing all of the fun, beauty, peace and relaxation right here and now.
If you are in a job that expects this amount of work, start looking for one that will not ruin your health, or at least have a discussion with your boss. Any boss that is demanding this kind of workload is either also unhealthy or not doing the same thing. If you are doing it to yourself, stop now. It’s not worth it, my friend. I’ve been in salaried positions that the expectation was to stay until the work was done or take it home to complete it and I left, realizing it was “becoming my life”. No salary, no matter how big, is worth your health.
Take time to enjoy those you love. If you don’t have a hobby because you’ve never had the time, choose one and have fun. Live life to its fullest each and every day. We do not know how long we are here on this earthly plane.