One-Third Of Our Life?

This pandemic, while unfortunate for those who have suffered and are suffering greatly from this disease or who have lost loved ones, has also disrupted our livelihood, sending most of us home to figure out how to balance life and work, or balance life without work. 

What a shock when as employees we were spending an average of an hour each day commuting back and forth to work, then 8 hours each day “working.” If you think about it, 8 hours a day out of 24 is one-third of our day. Add to that drive time, overtime, special meetings, etc. almost half of our days are devoted to “work”!

So ask yourself, are you receiving as much of a benefit back as what you are putting in? And how do you measure? 

Society, others, they, whoever you point to tell you to measure success by not only how much you have, but the right brand, style, etc., when in reality it’s you who tells yourself how much and what you should have. 

You can spend up to half of your life earning money to acquire those things you just can't live without and still be miserable. 

You can have thousands of “friends” online, but never talk to them and still be miserable. Pictures of friends showing you what great lives they lead, and the latest most beautiful pair of shoes you bought may provide an instant smile or comfort, but can never replace the human connection we are designed for.

Real human relationships are what bring us love, joy, bliss and trust the most. And that is what we have the most difficulty with. We spend one-third to one-half of our lives working because that is our comfort. It is our refuge. It is our solitude. It's what we know. We would rather "work out" a problem rather than face it, hoping the problem will eventually go away. When our relationships start going sideways,  we tend to work harder at what we are familiar with, rather than learning how to fix what we don't understand. 

I spent many years at the office "working" unnecessarily because I did not know, nor did I want to learn how to fix the life and relationships that were falling down around me. I was ill-equipped to manage the daily family drama unfolding in front of me that I chose to be oblivious to and take part in. Eventually, left unchecked and unmanaged, my life and family fell apart, mostly because I wanted it to and let it rather than facing it. 

After evaluating all that had happened and accepting responsibility when and where I fell short, I began to heal and change. I began to realize that although I cannot be responsible for other people's reactions, I am fully aware that my actions have consequences. I can now assess rather quickly whether or not the actions I am contemplating at the time will produce appropriate consequences for the situation at hand. 

Maintaining a proper balance between work, life, relationships and everything in between takes hard work, but when you focus on truly what is important in your life first, everything else follows. That's when true change begins.

It takes great strength, determination, and hard work to make a change, but change is also easier than you think. It’s just one step at a time. And the first step is going to www.walking-in-love.net to get started on the path to joy, bliss, trust, and love! 

Original article: https://walking-in-love.net/start-here/f/one-third-of-our-life