Reminder: Don’t Take Work Too Seriously

If you don’t take a break, your body might take one for you.

Yes, it is a necessity, but nothing to really stress over…

And yet, I still do.

We all catch a cold now and then. It is normal and nothing to worry about. But if that bug affects your ability to work for more than a few days, it is not a common cold. And you should have taken days off work.

It could be the flu or a light case of the Covid. Either way, that only means one thing: your immune system is down, and you cannot fight off whatever virus you caught. 

So here are a few reminders that may help you from falling too sick for more important matters:

1. There is a Time for Everything

We run around carrying trays and trays for tasks and responsibilities—rushing to tick each one off the list so we can just stop and be. 

It is hard to realize and accept that there is a time for everything, especially if that list does not clear out at the end of the day.

“There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens:”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-3

A time to rest. A time to run. A time to work, and a time to have fun. 

Although I never noticed it, I was stressed out. When I told a friend I caught a cold, she emphasized how stressed I was. 

I juggled work, passion projects, church commitments, and volunteering commitments for an organization on top of personal responsibilities. Two of which had big events throughout October.

I could be stressing out over nothing, yet these commitments weighed heavy on my shoulders while trying to get out of a reading slump. 

Easier said, but I should let go and accept that things fall into place even if I do not hit personal deadlines. I should respect the time for rest, the time to read, and the time to work and grind. 

2. The Point of Working

Our book study group is going through this thought-provoking book by the late Timothy Keller. 

A good friend suggested this book because I needed help understanding the point of working.

Work for me is tiring and rarely feels rewarding. My mind always focuses on the pain and frustrations more than the little wins I have each day. 

Yes, you get paid. That feels good. Purchasing something new with your hard-earned money feels good, too, but it all fades. And we wake up the next day to repeat the cycle and convince ourselves we need more.

It all boils down to working because we need the money. Said out loud feels bitter and hopeless in this economy.

I know I am not alone when I say there has to be more.

Social media makes you feel like you are wasting away in a nine-to-five. Encouraging you to quit your job and travel the world or convincing you that the only way to success is to be some kind of entrepreneur. 

This book breaks down all our notions of work and builds on the foundation that we were meant to work, cultivate, and create. Not just to make money.

And that just broke my heart. Through the last 7-plus years working, I have come to accept that the point of my job is to bring money to the table, to help provide and prepare for the future. Nothing more. The book has helped me understand why that mindset has been draining me and why work feels like I am wrung dry all the time. 

Yes, we all need money. Yes, we all have to work. Work in and of itself is a good thing—as long as we do not put it on a pedestal and we do not hate it for what it’s worth. 

3. If It is Meant to Be, Everything Will Fall Into Place.

I may not even be aware of what is stressing me out or I may be fully aware and afraid to admit it.  

What I am sure of is that I have been running on so much cortisol lately my brain could not focus. It could not formulate an organized course of action for the month.

There is only so much I can do, and I am only one person. 

When bothered with everything, I tend to resort to the word “Bahala na” (roughly translated to whatever, Google translates to “come what may,” and rooted from the name of the local god Bathala—who will carry out whatever has to be done). Or “Bahala nga kayo” (whatever you guys want). Not in a laid-back tone. More frustrated, angry, and pissed. 

I guess I like to be in control, and when things don’t make sense to me, I easily lift my hands in defeat and frustration, passing the responsibility to whoever is taking the reins. I give up and allow them to pull me into the depths of hell with them. 

If things work out as they hoped, great. If not, secretly, my mind screams: “TOLD YOU SO.”

In a world where collaboration is needed everywhere, I tend to shut my mouth and judge as others push us toward perceived and over-estimated failure. 

If my way won’t go, at least I am failing in the same boat as everyone else. Bahala na. 

I have to learn to let go and let things fall into place. Do what I can, not fight. 

If it is meant to be, things will pull through. That’s just life, and I cannot control everything. There is a time to be in control, a time to help support, and a time to stay silent.

4. Enjoy and Take In the Moment

With everything I plan to do and have to do, I fill up most of my dead hours with reading and catching up on lessons. 

In the last few weeks, I have dissociated with more reels and screen time as I procrastinate on more pressing matters. 

I am nose in a book, hands on a laptop, mind raising to the next box to tick. And as I type, as I turn pages, I only think about the next project, the next task. The moments are lost. 

Isn’t that the point of all of these activities anyway? Isn’t that the point of working to afford the moments? This is something I think many forget as they slave away from company to company to provide for their family.

We go through life because things like graduations and birthdays have to happen. They were not moments planned, anticipated, and hoped for. Not moments where we all gathered together to celebrate the core memories of growing up. They were just chapters that had to pass, not cherished moments in an involved life.

The term intentionality is something that should have been present in all our milestones. Something that should be present as you run through this short life.

Intentional living has been seen to help reduce stress and is even used to help with depression based on the researches mentioned in this article by PsychCentral.

I jump from one thing to the next. When have I sat and enjoyed the moment of these small irrelevant things?  When have I added a task to my to-do list and completed it with intentionality and not only because I have to?