Do you put your job before your health?

Do you work long hours, spend precious energy stressing over issues, lose sleep and sacrifice time without a second thought?

Do you think your job cares if your blood pressure is high, your resting heart rate is unhealthy, or you’re eating like crap because you don’t have time to cook?

If your job doesn’t care, does that mean you don’t care too? What are you waiting for?

Don’t wait for your body to tell you that you’ve had enough.

You can teach your children that health comes first, you can find boundaries for your job that allow you a higher quality of life.

I know, it is way easier said than done. Maybe you feel trapped, you’re afraid to make changes, speak up, you might lose your position or colleague’s respect. But no one is going to ask you if you need less work, more vacation, increased benefits. No one.

The big question is HOW.

Maybe start by writing down your thoughts. Make a “yay” column and a “nay” column. What do you like about your job? Your schedule? Your co-workers, your boss, your tasks, how does your job make you feel? How does it improve your life? And do the same in the “nay” column, what do you most often complain about?

Then work backwards, be curious, be your own private investigator. Dig into the “why’s” behind the nay column, why do you feel like you need to work late during the week, when you arrived early and didn’t take a lunch? Is this coming from your boss’s comments, a colleague that also works late, or you feel you can’t complete tasks on time? Maybe these feelings are coming from your own subconscious, thoughts about who you are as a person, the harder you work the more you’re worth?

Give yourself a place to begin, with compassion and curiosity.

Life is short and time is shorter. Take a stand for your health, begin living the way you want to see your children live.