Too Busy to Be Well??
Many of us are so busy that we actually disconnect our brain from our body at work. We ignore all the warning signs until it is too late. Here are a number of questions for you to answer to know when you are disconnected from your body.
If you answer yes to three or more of these you have a problem. If you answer yes to more than six you have a serious problem. If you answer yes to almost all of them, how do you know you’re not dead?
Are you??????
- Drinking lots of caffeinated drinks: coffee, tea, Red Bull, sodas, Full Throttle, etc.
- Eating mindlessly to fill up that void.
- Being ill and showing up at work.
- Not using your belly laugh.
- Calming down primarily with alcohol and drugs.
- Sleeping less than 7 hours each night, sleeping more than 10.
- Eating lots of sweets and processed foods.
- Hitting the “go” button in the morning and dropping exhausted into bed each night.
- Denying chronic pain.
- Finding the bad snacks at work. (You know where they are.)
- Resisting exercise, even not strolling around your neighborhood.
- Forgetting to touch your mate and your children.
- Over eating (eating when you are not hungry or when you’ve had enough).
- Not petting the dog or hedgehog.
- Justifying that you are so busy that you need to keep doing the above.
(Courtesy of Susie Amundsen @ wiseatwork.net. Check out her great blog for more questions and more suggestions to help.)
Get off the hamster wheel at work and get on the treadmill. Take a few days off to soak in the bath, get a message and ponder how you got into this mess and how you are going to get out. Talk to your partner, a friend or a co-worker and tell them you have a problem and need help. That is the first step to getting better. There’s more to life than work. Get out there and see for yourself.
Mike Martin is a freelance writer and consultant specializing in workplace wellness and conflict resolution. He is the author of “Change the Things You Can” (Dealing with Difficult People). For more information about Mike please visit:
mike54martin 
Great post. I totally agree with you. Luckily, I have bliss breaks throughout my day, where I check in with myself to be sure I give my body and mind what they need. This is great information to share with people. So many ignore these exact things and end up sicker than they realized. Thanks for sharing.
Not petting the hedgehog? LOL – I’m guilty of a few of these but keeping in touch with my pets is not one of them. The thing about having cats is they pretty much don’t take no for an answer. (I have one draped across my lap resting her head on my keypad at the moment.) Seriously, it is important to keep life in perspective. Work and all the other distractions of life will (hopefully) still be there tomorrow. We do need to make time for ourselves and our loved ones.
Love the hedgehog !
First time here. Awesome blog and super post. Well done.