As the old saying stated:
Students have all the time and energy but lacks money
Professionals have all the energy and money but lacks time
Adults have all the money and time but lacks energy
Funny isn’t it? I was reading @artgirl’s post about Workaholism earlier when I come up to my senses that I might fall on those people who are called Workaholic ( You can read her great insight here). I assume that maybe I am part of those tribe who spend almost ¾ of their time at their Job everyday. Although I spend most of my time working, that doesn't conclude that I am living a happy and content career life. Some works too hard because they really love what they are doing. Some works too much because they needed it, to live and to survive. And I can say that I am part of those workaholic junkies who need to work for the essence of needs. But on the positive side, my Job also brought Joy to my life somehow.
To know more if you fall under the spell of being a workaholic, check out the video below.
Source: Chris LoCurto via Youtube.com
As I digest and meditate Steph's blog, I remember an officemate once told me that she feel sad all of a sudden, without any valuable reason. She said “I feel empty, and I don’t even know the reason why”. The day after, I saw a post from @Artgirl in #Steemit stating that she felt sad too, and guess what? Having no clues why she felt that way. And that brought me into a conclusion that, people around my age or should I say “Young Adult” often went to this specific stage of life.
According to Erikson’s stages of psychological development, young adult ages from 20-39 years focuses in Intimacy vs. Isolation. The choice between to love or not. Hence, we young adults are still in the midst of our teenager’s life.
Young adults are still eager to blend their identities with friends. They want to fit in.
On the other side, such people are also prone to rejections and pain, not just in the broad world of Love but also in different aspect of life.
Is it Stress? Maybe. Is it Anxiety? Maybe. Unfortunately sometimes, it is both.
What is Stress?
Photo Credits: Pixabay
Stress is a feeling of strain and pressure.
Stress is a psychological pain where it disturbs you and prevent you to feel uncomfortable both mentally and physically. But as studies shows, stress has also a positive feedback to our mental health. Instead of worrying and being anxious, some stress can be a motivating stone for us to continue. I came across a blog about Stress Management and one thing I learned is to the 4 A's which are AVOID, ALTER, ADAPT AND ACCEPT.
AVOID
Avoid unneccesary stress. Come on, we need to accept the fact that sometimes we are stressing ourselves on the things that are not worthy of our energy and time. Little things that we shouldn't give time to spend with. Just imagine this, you are going to hike in the mountain and you brought some heavy rocks in your bags. Ins't crazy? As a grown up, we know how to think and how to say no to the unneccesary stuffs that will just cause us problems.If it won't help us or give us benefit at the end then I guess it's time to drop that stress that yo've been holding for a long time already.
ALTER
Can't Avoid it? Try to Alter it. If you think that you're in the dead end already and there's no turning back because the consequences is here already, then try to alter it. Think of the ways how will you resolve the things that is stressing you out. There's no way out but to solve it anyway.
ADAPT
Change yourself and adapt to the stressful situation. As I mention above, stress can gave us positive results too, and I guess adapting to the stress is one way to have a styressful yet happy life. If we are able to change ourselves as we endure stress, it might help us aswell to manage ourselves and our emotions as we face stress. Adapting also includes gratitude. Remembering that there are still good things in life even we live in such cruel and sad world.
ACCEPT
But unfortunately, some stress are unavoidable. To sum up everything, if we cannot outrun stress the best way to deal with stress to accept it. No, it won't be easy as ABC but for sure if you will hold on to yourself and keep going, you'll soon cope up with the process no matter how difficult it could be. Forgive yourself. Learn from your mistakes. Enjoy the Journey and keep going.
And if you still want to learn how to manage your stress, you can check out this helpful article about stress management.
Another psychological enemy of most young adults aside from Stress is no other than Anxiety.
What is Anxiety?
Photo credits: Pixabay
Anxiety is an emotion characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, often accompanied by nervous behavior, such as pacing back and forth, somatic complaints, and rumination. It is the subjectively unpleasant feelings of dread over anticipated events, such as the feeling of imminent death.
Source: Wikipedia
If Stress is the feeling of being pressured, Anxiety on the other hand in an emotion that gave us worries, that sometimes people people mistaken it as overreacting. Anxiety can be the root of overthinking about school, work, family, money etc. And as a young adult, I believe that we have this Instinct and mindset of "Surviving Mentality" that sometimes pressured us to do more especially in the area of our work and money.
Here are some simple tactics I found to manage Aniety:
Talk to someone you trust about how you're feeling
I believe that one good way to let your anxiety out is to talk to someone. To let out what are you feeling and what keeps you down. And based on my own experience, running towards the right people to share what I am going through.
Take some time out
A busy and tight schedule at work are often the reason why we people fall under Anxiety. The feeling of chasing the time because you still got tons of things to accomplish. Some of us may also experienced that we are being pumped because we wanted to do and achieve so many things all in one time. So one great tip is to, STOP! Take some breaks, have a deep breathe and then continue. It's not that bad to take some time out even once in a while.
Move more, eat well and on time and Sleep
I know we are all busy and must move at work as fast as a flash of light, but let us remember the basic again. As we drowned ourselves more to our work tendedncy is, we drained too much energy in a short period of time. So an exercise, well balanced diet, having a habit of eating in time and well enough sleep is basically we need. So basic that sometimes we already neglect these things.
Face your fears
Then lastly, to manage and conquer Anxiety is to face it. Seems hard? Yes definitely it is. Nobody says it was easy though, but If we will be able to conquer and overcome our fears surely, we can easily overcome our anxieties.
To learn more tips about anxiety, you can check out this 7 tips to help you with stress and anxiety.
The truth is we cannot outrun being stress and being anxious in our life. But there are surely tons of ways to manage it and to conquer it. And now I would like to share few things I believe it will help us all to have a balance and purposeful life.
1. SET A PLAN
Photo credits: Pixabay
If you fail to plan, You plan to fail.
Being an Adult is not easy as 123, yes we get that. But one thing I learned in my College days is to plan. I remember hearing this quote from our Church, wherein our Pastors trained us to Plan ahead whether it is about School, Career or Family. From that day, I decided to have a planner on my own. Where i tick points of the Important and "Must Do things". I'm not saying that go and buy yourself a planner right now. But as for me, having a notebook where I write stuffs is very helpful. Sincec I have tons of things to do and I cannot memorize everything of it in my head. It also serves a reminder for me to become productive and effective. It helped me to set my Priorities first, than doing things rapidly and without any plan.
Planning ensures that you are staying on track with your goals and you can ensure that you become more task oriented. Planning also provides the framework for informed decision making. Finally, planning allows focus and personal energy direction.
Planning is important as it allows you to prioritize your work, get more done in less time, helps you to produce quality work and keeps as disciplined.
-Narsing Brahanpure via www.linkedin.com
It's great to have our own plan in our own life, but at the end of the day let us remember that above all plans, God's plan for us are still the best plan for us.
2. DREAM BIG DREAMS
Photo credits: @forever.favored via www.instagram.com
The next step to have a Balanced and Purposeful life is to Dream Big Dreams. You heard it right. I wanted to emphasize BIG DREAMS because I believe we all have a Dream, it's a common thing. But having a significant life also means having Big Dream with you. Dreams that you yourself cannot contain. Big Dreams that even other people accused you to be Ambitious. We cannot blame people anyway, but it was neevr wrong to have high hopes when it comes in Dreaming right? As long asa your heart and motive is right and you don't need to ruin other people's life then it's fine to have Big dreams.
Feed your dreams with daily motivation
Photo credits: yannn via bitlanders.com
If you already have the Big Dream in your mind then Congratualations! You are one step forward in having a purposeful life. Why did I say so? Because having a dream in our hearts allow us to keep going. It enables us to pursue life with genuine motivation. It gives us reason to continue even though life is testing us everyday. But I believe that as we Dream high, there are people who have troubles Identifying their dreams. Here are some points to help you evaluate yourself.
1. Some people have been discouraged from dreaming by others.
This is one sad truth. We must admit that there are "Dream Killer" in this cruel world. People who are Insecure and Insensitive enough to ruin one dream. If it was you who have been discouraged because other people told you that you cannot achieve that dream, I wanted you to know that YOU CAN. Yes the path maybe tough, but If you hold on unto it. Persevere and take heart, nothing will be Impossible for you.
2.Some people are hindered by past disappointments and hurts.
Aside from other people, previous experiences can be one factor why we cannot dream anymore. Maybe we made a mistake, disappoint ourselves or we've been rejected. I want to tell you that this is not the end. Yes maybe you have a painful past but that doesn't disqualify you to dream again. Sometimes such things are necessary for us to become stronger. Use it to prove yourself more! That you are not a Victim but rather you are Victorious.
3.Some people get in the habit of settling for average.
This is why I'm telling you earlier thatt if you will dreaam, Dream Big dreams! Some people are so contented with their life already to the point they don't even want to dreaam anymore. We are made for bigger things and not just to be average, so step out in your comfort zone and start to dream big!
4. Some people lack the confidence needed to pursue their dreams.
To Dream big dreams, you'll be needing a lot of courage. A lot of successful people today step up and have faith not only to their self but also to the one who gave them their dream. One step of achieving your dream is to believe in it and to have the confidence that at the end of this race, you will be able to Achieve every dreams that you possess.
5. Some people lack the imagination to dream.
As I said awhile ago, in Dreaming Big dreams you can be Ambitous. Dreaming has no limit and it should not limit you. The very reason we have Imagination. As popular quote in Walt Disney stated "If you can dream it, you can do it"
There you have it some points to help you evaluate yourself why are you having troubles Dreaming Big Dream. You can visit www.success.com for more details.
3. PERSEVERE
Photo credits: pixabay.com
What is perseverance?
Perseverance is the ability to keep doing something in spite of obstacles. People who persevere show steadfastness in doing something despite how hard it is or how long it takes to reach the goal.
We all need to persevere. Whether it's about our Dreams, Career or Personal life. Perseverance is one quality we must possess to have a purposeful life. Life is not easy, it will be a rough road for all of us. The very reason why we need to persevere. We are not made to be a quitter, but we are made to be a Winner.
It took Thomas Edison thousands of attempts before he discovered the light bulb. Most people experience failure as the end. Great minds like Edison's experience failure as motivation. His potent comment on failure was "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
-Dr. Kathleen Hall via Share Care
Here's a clip from Facing the Giants movie that shows perseverance:
Credits: St Pauls Online via youtube.com
4. TAKE A REST
Last but definitely not the least in my List to have a Balanced and Purposeful life is to take a rest of have a break even for awhile. We've done a lot of hardwork in this life, why not give yourself a break too? Have some ttime to relax and treat yourself even for once, or you can just take your "Me time" and rest physically.
Photo creditts: pixabay.com
Have some Sleep. This might be the simplest way of resting but believe me, sometimes all we need to freshen up is to sleep. For us to be able to regain strength and energy, physiscally. After long hours, weeks, months of hardwork isn'y great to rest your physical body, right?
Scientists have gone to great lengths to fully understand sleep's benefits. In studies of humans and other animals, they have discovered that sleep plays a critical role in immune function, metabolism, memory, learning, and other vital functions. The features in this section explore these discoveries and describe specific ways in which we all benefit from sleep.
Photo credits: pixabay.com
Socialize, Eat and have Fun. Maybe sleeping isn't your thing when it comes in relaxing. Maybe you are that one person who loves to spend their rest days hanging out with their families or friends and just having a fun time together. We all need a break from all the stress and toxic people (It's so sad to admit but yes toxic people exists).
Enjoying close social ties — with friends, partners, or family members — can make us happy and improve our overall life satisfaction in the long run.
Studies have shown that those who enjoy close friendships over their teenage years aren't just happy as adolescents; they also have a lower rate of depression or anxiety later in life.
-Maria Cohut via medicalnewstoday.com
Photo credits: pixabay.com
Travel. Who doesn't want to travel right? Maybe each of everyone of us desires to travel in particular places even once in our life. And now that we are able to produce wealth for ourselves, we are now able to go and travel. As I observed, young Adult these days often find Travelling as therir "Break" or "Way of running away from Stress". People are exploring and discovering places they think will give them comfort. Some are going to the beach to breathe some fresh air. Some are going to Mountains and do hiking.
Great benefit is the relaxation you get to do. It’s nice to live life to its fullest and enjoy a stress free time with yourself. Going on vacation lets us recharge our “batteries” by disconnecting us from our regular life. When we come back we feel invigorated and we are happy to be back in our day to day routine. It’s a very good stress remover that has a lot more to give than most people are willing to accept.
-via ineedmotivation.com
There you have it, some tips how to help us have a balance and purposeful life. Don't get me wrong, these 4 points are all based on my own opinion but I make sure to support it with helpful knowledge from the world of Internet. But I believe we all have our own ways how to live our life. What matter mlst is we live this life significantly and to the fullest. Acknowledging that this life is short but it is a beautiful gift from above. I pray that we may live our life greatly and not full of regrets.
Thank you for reading everyone! For the meantime here's a short querlo chat for you.
-Yannn
