I’ve recently hit my one year of working. In that span of 365 days, I’ve reached highs and lows, forming me into what I am today.
When I started working, I was joyful and excited to work to the point where I did things outside my responsibilities and even worked a few hours on Saturdays. I was energetic and inspired to discover new ways to improve the company’s operations. However, one task assigned to me completely broke me.
I had zero knowledge of the task given to me, and the amount of anxiety and stress it gave me mentally and physically made me want just to quit. I had to ask my loved ones and friends for advice. It destroyed me, even when I was not at work— even when walking towards the mall entrance, I wanted to break down. I was so stressed, and it was not okay.
After a while of realizations and whatnot, I opened up to my boss and told him I wanted to resign. There was silence. We talked for a while, and it ended up with me staying and him removing the task from me. It was a relief, lifting such a heavy weight from my shoulders. I could breathe again.
I continued work, but I was never the same jolly person again because it honestly caused some trauma. I was still doing my best, don’t get me wrong, but I honestly felt like just a different person. After a while, some realizations hit me. Before, I was a workaholic and delivered my best every day. It was not a problem for me to keep working and strive for better performance and pay. However, as time passed, I realized it was not a good mindset.
Dedicating so much time and even energy to your job is not good. What’s good is having time for yourself, spending more time with your family and friends, and simply doing things you love and things that are good for you, like doing your hobbies and walking (walking 10,000 steps a day is good for your body, by the way).
Right now, I don’t work past my work hours as much. I don’t work on weekends. Also, I don’t stress and think about my work beyond work hours, which has improved my mental health.
Time is much more valuable than money. I value time so much now. With my current work schedule, I don’t get enough sleep and don’t feel well-rested. Also, two days of rest (weekend) is not enough. There’s a lot that I’d love to do every weekend, but it isn’t enough. The only way to do every hobby I have, get together with friends, exercise, and spend time with loved ones is to sacrifice my sleep.
Life is all about living. I want to work to live, not live to work.
Although I’ve faced so many challenges this early, I’m grateful to have learned great things from all of them. Hopefully, I can improve this. My work. My life. My sleeping schedule (I truly have to fix this). I’m honestly a big advocate of work-life balance now.
I honestly pray and hope that companies worldwide value their employees, giving them proper days of rest or leave, advocating mental health days, and offering them good salaries that complement the living costs in whatever country they operate and reside in.
۶ৎ
