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We all work hard enough to achieve our goals but is working too hard really worth it? Breaks from work are really important for both your physical and mental health.
But let me ask you a few things:
- Are you a person who likes to work non-stop (aka workaholic)?
- Are you someone who declines to take a break?
- Feeling fatigued or you feel guilty when they start binge-watching Netflix or YouTube?
Now let me tell you the real truth. There is no harm in taking a break. Woah! Surprised you there, didn’t I?
People say, “oh you’ll never get there if you don’t try hard enough to get where you want.” That is true but either way, working way too hard will have the same effect as not working at all! I always try to be busy (and it’s not a good thing).
One time, I texted a friend once in a while and asked him if I was a workaholic and he replied with a definite “yes”. Look, I’m only a university student and a blogger. I don’t have kids to take care of or a part-time job or even a huge business.
What does it matter whether or not you don’t have these things? There are different ways that you’re actually working and all I can say is, it’s really not good to work 247 for any situation. It’s bad for your mental health and you’ll end up mentally drained.
So here are 7 signs that you’re working way too much. And in the end, I will mention some ways on how you can, you know, chill out.
Note: This post includes sensitive topics like depression.
So grab your mug of coffee or tea and let’s get right into it!
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Table of Contents
Stress
Research suggests that 75% of Australian’s surveyed admitted that stresses in their lives affected their physical health, while only 64% said it affected their mental health.
As well as more than half of Americans say that they fight with friends and loved ones because of stress, and more than 70% say they experience real physical and emotional symptoms from it.
If you’re stressing a lot, then serious issues can develop such as cardiovascular disease or even depression.
When I was studying for my exams, I was stressing out so much that I ended up having a mental breakdown. It was not good and my friends didn’t know how to deal with me. All I was left was a brain filled with negative emotions alongside binge eating.
Now when you know that you’re putting your fingers through your hair, rubbing your forehead or feeling negative energy surrounding you, then you’re likely putting pressure of yourself. So does sighing a lot in defence.
Headaches or Migraines
These are well-known areas when you’re working too much. The research found that 10 per cent of respondents had headaches multiple times a week as of February 2017 and up to seven million tension-type headache sufferers (36% for men and 42% for women) in Australia.
I suffered from a bad headache when I was just in year 9. It was also during the time of my clinical depression and because I kept getting overwhelmed with the amount of homework and stress in my life, I had to go to the doctors for it.
When you feel a headache coming, take a break! Like stress, it can become a serious issue like migraine, high blood pressure and anxiety.
Fatigue & Tiredness
Sleep is really important but if you’re lacking sleep due to the amount of work you do, then you’re in a bad state. The symptoms are lack of alertness, slower reactions to situations and bad decision making.
Research shows that 54 per cent of people getting six or fewer hours of sleep-wake up tired 4 or more days a week, as well as the rate of lost productivity for all health-related reasons, was much higher for workers with fatigue: 66 per cent, compared with 26 per cent for workers without fatigue.
My lack of sleep ties down between going to bed at midnight (1-2 am) to waking up at 8-10 am. Which is bad because I have terrible insomnia due to the amount of work and studying I do every night. Also, please don’t be like me and study way later at 10 pm or go on Pinterest at 11 pm.
Related Posts
- 10 Things You Should Add To Your Self Care Bucket List
- 101 List of Self-care Sunday Activities to do on Weekends
- 20 Adaptable Things To Do During Quarantine
Burnt Out
Losing motivation is common in people but when they continuously do it, it becomes a huge problem.
If you feel exhausted or just bored of the same thing you’re doing, take a realisation. The research found out that 25 per cent of respondents agreed that they felt run down or drained of physical and emotional energy. And in 2017 about 37 per cent of adults in the U.S. stated their stress level had increased over the past year.
When I get burnt out during my blogging stage, I always let myself know that it’s OK to take a 2 week or 1-month break from my blog. After the results of taking a break from blogging, I came back with a fresh mind and a new batch of contents.
Like I said, being burnt out is pretty normal in humans. That’s why when we’re burnt out, try something different. But if you keep doing it, then you’re overdoing yourself and can result in the worst of you.
Guilt
Many workaholics know that they feel guilty when they’re on their breaks. It becomes a paranoia to them (which I can relate).
They think that they should go back to work but in reality, they are in the FoF zone (Fear of Failure). The FoF zone could mean that you’re afraid of getting fired to a job or losing readers to your blog, not getting enough income etc.
Like I said in my introduction, my friends think I work too much and I was grumpy and irritated at the time.
That is true. When I took a break for the first time in forever, I felt guilty in my system for just leaving my blog as it is. Now, whenever I take a break, I like to think of it as a reward or a self-care project for myself.
Related Posts
- How to Conquer Fear of Failure (from my Experience)
- Unexpected Ways About Getting Over “Fear Of Failure” Can Make Your Life Better
- The Meaning To Unconditional Love (& Unconditional Love Quotes)
Depression
These signs can all lead to depression whether it’s guilt, stress or headaches. When you overwork, it could lead you to feel so low to the risk of suffering from this mental illness like suicide to cutting yourself etc.
Studies from Gallup Poll showed that 5.6 per cent of full-time workers also said they were depressed as well as several studies have shown that even minor depression is related to poorer work performance.
I’ve had clinical depression in the past and even minimal depression today due to the stress and workload. That’s why I decided to write this blog about self-care. I want to let you know that if you can’t self-care by yourself, then I am here to help.
Also, if you remember the infamous Logan Paul walking into the suicide forest back in early 2018, you know that Japan workers are at higher risk of ending their life due to work.
If you, yourself is depressed, please talk to someone or call a hotline. (AUS) (US) (Worldwide)
Isolation
We’re humans. We’re social creatures. I myself, work as a blogger alone (physically) but there are plenty of ways I can communicate with other bloggers and influencers online. You may be working in an office cubical alone overnight and that’s not healthy.
This could lead you to depression, sleeplessness and even early-onset dementia. In 2016, the national survey showed that 60 per cent felt lonely, while 82.5 per cent thought loneliness was becoming more of an issue.
When I started my online school and blog in 2016, I was happy. All I thought was “with work on my hands, I don’t need to socialise.” Oh, boy was I wrong.
I was working so hard and ignoring the people who I was close too. I felt so lonely and depressed. Even though I was socially awkward with social anxiety, I can’t ignore people forever.
If you’re suffering from any of these “workaholic” signs, then here are some suggestions on what you can do to take the workload off you.
- Take a break
- Gratitude
- Stretch or Exercise
- Listen to your favourite music
- Meditate or Yoga
- Read your favourite book
- Journaling
- Warm showers
- Bubble baths
- Socialise. Talk or hang out with someone (friend, family, employees etc).
- Binge-watch YouTube or Netflix
Here’s some more in-depth post on how to self-care:
- 101 List of Self-care Sunday Activities to do on Weekends
- 10 Cheap & Inexpensive Self Care Ideas Anyone Can Do
- 10 Things You Should Add To Your Self Care Bucket List
And if you don’t know where to start, I created a 30 day self care challenge just for you! Check it out here.
Conclusion
Try out the suggestions I listed whenever you feel like you NEED to have a break.
Or you could go to SimpleTruths and learn more about mental health, personal change & happiness.
If you love new posts about self-care, productivity, blogging tips, and other lifestyle posts, then don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter where you can get notified in your email inbox on Fridays (Aussie time). Follow my social media accounts if you haven’t already!
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I have been depriving myself of fun and leisure ever since I found a job. I spend almost 12-15 hours working a day with both fulltime and parttime. I have also been deprived of sleep and I haven’t been eating proper meals these past few days. It’s been tiring. I never take breaks from work either and I usually get burnt out. I will try to find at least 10 minutes a day to rest my eyes at work. Thank you so much for sharing this!
That must be rough on you and it must be tough trying to balance life with a full time and part-time. I really do hope you take your mental health first and being sleep deprived while eating a not so balance diet is terrible. I hope things get better for you and please, don’t feel guilty when you feel like you need a break because you definitely deserve one!
taking breaks is so important! i definitely needed to read this article because I’m a master of overworking myself. thanks for sharing!
Kasey Ma
TheStyleWright.com
No shame, I myself overwork myself too sometimes. I’m glad to help you based on my own experiences!
Taking breaks is soooo important! I will sometimes take the weekend off from blogging and not go on social media at all. It’s such a nice refresher!
That’s awesome and I truly agree! I love taking breaks on Sunday to focus on myself and my wellbeing instead of going on social media.
Sometimes I forget to take small breaks. It can definitely create an impact.
No excuse, I too forget sometimes! It’s fine as long as it isn’t giving me a bad horrible headache.
You are so right about taking regular breaks from work. I know that I’m more productive when I take time for me.
Anyone can be more productive when they take a short or medium long break! (The longer can lead to procrastination!)
I work from home now so I try to break up the day by walking to the post office or market- errands I need to do anyways and get a little exercise.
Haha I feel the same. Taking a walk either to the kitchen or shopping (involves ALOT of walking) is an excuse to get out of working and to actual exercise.
I was guilty of being a workaholic, choosing to work through weekends and in the morning/evening before and after my full-time job. But, then I realized that it wasn’t doing me any good. I can still be successful without driving myself and my body and mind to the very end. Now I make sure to take time for myself and not turn down invitations because it means I’ll be “behind” on something! I actually found it made me more productive in the end! 🙂
I can exactly feel the same when I was a really horrible workaholic back then. It’s always the “FoM” that makes me overwork. I’m glad you worked it out!
this is truly so important.. now i am not in a 9 – 5 job but even for what i am doing at home, i take breaks to avoid many of these issues
Same here! It’s a holiday here for me until I start full-time classes in Feb. I’m taking the advantages of fully refreshing myself and having fun.
Couldn’t agree with taking a break even more. I try to take the weekend off at least twice of month and I feel better after.
Weekends are the best time to take days off!
Oh man there is so much truth to this! I have struggled so badly with burn out in the past. Great post! Thanks for sharing!!!
Same! I use to burn out nearly every single week whenever I work non-stop. It’s tough!
I used to require my sales people to take their vacation days to prevent them from burning out. Breaks are huge from the employers perspective as well for employee retention.