Hey future professionals! We wish your college life is bubbling with bountiful opportunities to help you explore varied niches and discover your innate interests. The time is not far when we shall enter the professional world that holds a climacteric bunch of keys to incredibly fascinating doors of amazing opportunities and infinite possibilities for us.
Well, let us acknowledge the fact that every job irrespective of its rank and pay, comes with its fair share of responsibilities, authority, accountability, desired skill set, and workload. However, on the flip side, it also implies less of everything else that encompasses leisure such as social outings, recreational activities, family time, ‘me time’, etc. It is because our ‘work’ eventually ends up dominating our priority list.
According to a 2017 research from the Australian National University (ANU), “People who work more than 39 hours a week are putting their health at risk.” To add to it, lead researcher Dr. Huong Dinh from the ANU Research School of Population Health said that “Long work hours erode a person’s mental and physical health because it leaves less time to eat well and look after themselves properly.” Another research from France espoused a similar inference that employees who work more hours are likely to have poorer mental health and lower-quality sleep.
Thus, it is pertinent to learn the art of smoothly juggling between work and leisure because more often than not, personnel fail to keep their professional and personal lives discrete and it is highly imperative to not let the line between the two get blurred. Hence, it follows that only if our general wellness and personal relationships are not affected negatively, would it be worth it to hustle and give our best shot at the workplace.
So, how about embarking upon a journey of making it a productive habit to take a day or at least an evening off once every week in order to ensure our overall well-being right from college days? Decide for yourself by considering the following pointers:
It is essential to declutter our heads once in a while and be adequately mindful of what’s going on
Oft-times, we get so subsumed in everyday errands that we unknowingly become victims of quotidian hustle-bustle. Taking a day or an evening off is a much-needed breather to sit down in tranquillity and introspect. It also allows us to keep track of several day-to-day events and instances such that we do not run heedlessly through the week sans presence of our mind.
Our body and mind both require adequate rest
Ever wondered why a machine has a switch-off button? Because it cannot run incessantly 24/7 and even if it does, permanent wear and tear are bound to cease its functionality, in turn demanding high maintenance expenditure.
Similarly, humans also need to hit the pause button so as to avoid putting excessive strain and stress over bodily systems and their functioning. Taking some time off can actually save us from allocating our bucks to unnecessary health expenditures-thereby, allowing us to enjoy and exercise freedom of choice in expending our savings on genuine needs and favorite stuff.
It is pivotal to be proactive about our health
What is more preferable or logical per se? Doing our bit daily to look after ourselves, or suffering pain and discomfort when our body reacts in ways against our wishes and we simply watch out losing on our productivity in bed? The guilt of not taking good care and addressing our bodily needs is awfully more distressing than any other instance of self-betrayal.
Work is just a part of our lives
If life is a book, then clearly not all chapters relate to our work. As college students, we must understand that academics, extra co-curricular endeavors, and side hustle are all just a part of our lives. They mean everything to us lately but don’t you think it’s important to make time for our friends, family, and things that matter to us?
Many people in recent years did recognize that they have increasingly devoted themselves to their work and neglected everything else that might have added meaning to their life. They long for time and energy to devote to the people they care about, rather than their job, along with a quest for ample headspace to do other things.
You deserve yourself
Let’s try apprehending it through a simplified mathematical operation out here:
1 day off every week (implies) => 4 days off per month, in turn, => 48 days off per year
48/365 amounts to a mere 13.1% of the total number of days in a year that we solely devote to ourselves and the activities that we wish to undertake. Can you imagine this is not even equal to 1/5th of the totality!
Sparing time for ourselves is not a luxury, rather a lifetime necessity. We’re the ones with whom we’ve to spend every second of our lives. We can’t escape from us. It’s okay to pamper ourselves on low days and reward ourselves on productive days with a fulfilling nap, an exciting outing, a sitcom, or anything else that gives us absolute pleasure.
Gives the needed boost to our productivity
Isn’t it better off an option to study and work with full zeal rather than with an empty energy bar? Even humanoids require to be plugged in and charged and sometimes, it is absolutely okay to put everything aside and just breathe in and breathe out.
Productivity shouldn’t always be linked with working or studying. Sometimes, taking a short break from everything is more productive than burning out ourselves to toxic levels. In this way, our studies and jobs shall not seem like an encumbrance, because having a lazy day indeed helps us break away from the tedium associated with a 5 or 6 day long work week.
Does it sound too comfy or superficial to follow?
It is nonetheless argued that speed is the cornerstone for achieving success in today’s world and so, all that is propagated about slowing down and taking time off is lame and misleading. Well, of course with the extent of dynamism in the professional arena and a highly competitive college environment, being consistent and running steadily at a constant speed is the key to achieve success. But then the question is what makes us consistent?
You must have heard of this famous maxim by Robert Louis Stevenson – “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” Precisely, it is the seed of consistency that we plant for the upcoming days whenever we take some time off, or else there lies a higher probability of getting zonked out beyond repair. It is essential to understand that a fulfilling break can, in fact, help us enhance our consistency rather than curtailing it.
Whenever we do something off track, different from our everyday routine, it magically rejuvenates us and makes all the pending daunting tasks appear highly achievable. Hence, remember to take good care of yourself because it is as important as everything else on our overwhelming to-do lists.