Good article on stress and overwhelm

http://www.govexec.com/excellence/p...otally-exhausted/81187/#.UzLFBSZhN4I.facebook


I have been thinking about this topic a lot lately so I really enjoyed this article. As I am progressing in my TMS healing I have really been noticing how much the stress and busyness can be a mental distraction just like pain and anxiety. Not having enough time, pushing through in spite of the pain, struggling is a state of mind. I had a therapist tell me once that there is enough time for the things that matter the most. That is a reassuring outlook. If we try to do it all, and do it all well, we may be left in perpetual dissatisfaction and falling a little short. I can't tell you how many times people used to say to me "I don't know how you do it all." I used to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment when people said that to me and also internally "I don't know how I do it either!" I didn't feel like I had a choice, but we all have a choice. Well, now I know the sacrifice I paid, and am still paying. There is enough time for the things that matter the most.

The last paragraph in this article sums it up completely:

"One of the most astounding studies I came across was another OECD look at productivity. I heard so often, well, this overwork culture is just the price we have to pay for being such an enormously wealthy and productive economy. But then the OECD sliced GDP per hours worked to get an hourly productivity rate, and for several of the years studied, the U.S. falls several rungs below other countries with more rational work-life policies, such as France. So we’re putting in the most hours, but we’re not actually working intense, short, productive hours. We’re just putting in a lot of meaningless face time because that’s what our workplace cultures value—at the expense of our health, our families, and our souls."

 

Interesting article, Anne. I can relate to the section of the article which discusses how we organise our children. It suggests we surround ourselves with like-minded individuals. So when I used to ask a parent if their child wanted to come over and play with mine only to be told, 'oh I'm afraid little Sophie goes to ballet on a Monday, Tuesday she does gymnastics, on Wednesday she has to go to…so you see she really has no time in her schedule', I decided to avoid these parents. My kids did various activities during their childhood but I never had them so booked up that they had no time to see their friends. I felt they needed to learn how to entertain themselves even though I was a stay-at-home mother for 16 years. I used to get told off by some of these busy parents for not properly organising my family, like they were doing. I felt isolated as I rejected this particular pack mentality. I would doubt myself and think, do I have it right or do they?

I see my husband and how he works. I sure don't envy him. He used to stay up all night writing reports when he was younger, sometimes several nights in a row. He still gets up at the crack of dawn and is on the train to the city usually well before 7am. He often returns home after 7pm and then does some work in his home office (he's a self-employed contractor). He'll spend hours in this office over the weekend too. I found it funny when the article mentions how MRI images of people's brains are showing that they are shrinking because of all this overworking. I'm not sure how they can prove the cause and effect though.

I used to pride myself like you on how much I could accomplish in a day. "If you want something done, ask a busy person." Now I realise that my multi-tasking was allowing me to trawl through my day like a mindless airhead. "Did I just feed the dog?" "Did I lock the door?" "When did daughter say she would be home. I don't think I was listening."

 

I hated working for a big insurance company, as editor of their travel magazine and some internal work
such as articles and speeches. I loved editing the magazine but a lot of my time was wasted at corporate meeting.
Everyone was giving the bosses snow-jobs of how productive they were, which I thought was mostly b.s.
They usually spent most of their talk time telling how they had trouble finding a parking place for their car
they went on a trip for the company. I stayed three years and should have quit after three minutes there.
Big business was just not for me. I've been happy as a freelance writer for the past forty plus years.

 

"One of the most astounding studies I came across was another OECD look at productivity. I heard so often, well, this overwork culture is just the price we have to pay for being such an enormously wealthy and productive economy. But then the OECD sliced GDP per hours worked to get an hourly productivity rate, and for several of the years studied, the U.S. falls several rungs below other countries with more rational work-life policies, such as France. So we’re putting in the most hours, but we’re not actually working intense, short, productive hours. We’re just putting in a lot of meaningless face time because that’s what our workplace cultures value—at the expense of our health, our families, and our souls."

OMG, that is SO true---a person can't work all the time and function at peak productivity. I noticed this in China where a lot of people work extremely long days but move slowly in a very relaxed way (they even say "walk slow" instead of "have a great day!"). "Intense, short, productive hours" would probably get more work done but "meaningless face time" is obviously even less productive! It would be better to go for a walk or take a nap than to pretend you are working when your mind is exhausted and you are yearning for a break.

 

My other half has spent some time in China on business trips. He told me about an office he visited one day where workers would get up at some ungodly hour and take naps at some point during their working day. He actually witnessed these employees dutifully slumped at their desks in the midst of their power nap! Like that's going to really happen in London, LOL.

 

I've read that some big companies in China have "nap rooms" for employees to take a nap break
each each afternoon. Some of the recliners have the capacity to play soothing music. But naps
can be only about 15 minutes because if longer the nappers go into a longer nap cycle which is
counter-productive.