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You don’t always have to strive to be your best. Sometimes it’s okay to just be. When you’re not in motion, you can choose, instead, to reflect on how far you’ve come. To be humbled by the many twists and turns of the journey and its unforeseeable landscapes.
In Western cultures, having a desire for personal growth is natural, and in most cases, encouraged. But if all we ever do is aspire to create a better tomorrow, won’t we never have lived a day in our present?
Our futures are important, yes, but they will only ever exist as a figment of our imagination. And what happens when we plan our lives away for a reality that never comes? You hear world leaders and international best-selling authors reflecting on how reaching the peak of success can lead to feelings of lost purpose, isolation, and unimaginable pressure to maintain success. Maybe this means we must learn to balance our aspirations with the beautiful here and now.
Celebrate your small victories. Take breaks when necessary. Make it your goal to glow from gratitude for all you’ve accomplished thus far. And my goodness, please take your vacation days. Your mental health should always take priority over anything else, because how else do you expect to be the best version of yourself if you’re burned out or a fraction of a second away from having a complete meltdown in the Walmart parking lot?
Companies and clients will always do what they do best – hire and fire. If budget cuts are on the horizon, upper management will not think twice about making layoffs. It’s never personal, it’s always business. That’s their mantra. But for you, your mantra needs to be, “It’s not business, it’s just personal.” When you decide you need a personal day; take it. If you suspect that by taking a personal day, you might lose your job, I encourage you to start searching for employment elsewhere.
Just as we need sleep or calories to power through our days, we need relaxation to fuel our drive. Skipping downtime is like skipping sleep cycles. We might be physically in the office or on the treadmill, but our brains are covered in a thick fog. So, rest. Rejuvenate. You have the remainder of your life to reach that summit.
When I think of my own striving, sometimes I think I do it because I’m trying to prove something. Trying to prove to the world and to myself that I am deserving of good things. The sweat on my brow, my skinned shins, and the fat tears rolling down my cheeks all serve as proof of my tireless efforts to build a life I can be proud of. Sure, hard work is admirable. But so is enjoying the fruits of your labor – whether that looks like flying off to Mauritius for a week or heading out for a night on the town with some friends.
You are not a workhorse. Pleasure is your birthright, as is childlike fun that doesn’t expire with age, regardless of what others might say. To miss out on the life we made simply because we were too preoccupied with the end result would be a devastating tragedy, not to mention, a total waste. So, rise and fall. Work hard and play hard. Succeed, fail, and fail again. Just don’t forget to clock out. Just don’t forget to make your present moment so achingly wonderful that when you’re looking back on it, it will be worth remembering.
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Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash
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