I Work to Live

Melinda Belle
Oct 9, 2021
3 min read

Hi, my name is Melinda and I am a recovering workaholic.

Are there any other recovering workaholics out there?

Good. I'm not alone.

My family and I took a family trip in 2019. I would say we needed it, because we were in the beginning stages of recovery, after losing our beloved son/brother/uncle so suddenly and so tragically.

We visited Disney world (which would have been a second time for me *smile*).

There was a particular ride we went on which highlighted what the future of work would look like. There were two questions asked:

Do you live to work?
Do you work to live?

I selected live to work.....

Fast forward to 2021 around to the end June, July and part of August.

I experienced a bout of burnout and the depleting emotions associated with burnout.

This affected my work performance. I became withdrawn and uncommunicative.

I knew while going through this wilderness experience, something had to change. I couldn't continue to function like this.

While formulating what I am going to write on my blog post this week, I saw how "I live to work" formed my philosophy about life and work in general. An imbalance had been created. I was more motivated to work than to live. In other words, I didn't have much of a life outside of work. Maybe it had a lot to do with the fact that I was going through a breakup that I drove myself to work to escape the pain of growing through it.

Work can sometimes be used as a form of escape.

What did I do to change?

Incorporate times of rest: I know now that resting is a productive use of my time. Taking naps do help in recharging my batteries. I'm also getting better at meeting my bed time and it's still a work in progress.
Enjoy my weekends: As an entrepreneur, this sounds quite unorthodox to me. But it's how I get to enjoy life. I normally take myself for a drive and just go anywhere I feel led to go. This helps take my mind off of things and embrace the beauty all around me.
Recognising not every idea is a business idea: I can't help but think about the varying ways that I could bring in more business which leads to more income. But there maybe somethings that I can just do for enjoyment. I have come to the resolve that there's nothing wrong with having a hobby or two.
Stop hustling and start aligning: Grabbing at every opportunity got me to the place of burnout. Also, not taking a holiday since 2019 does play a factor. (Don't beat me!). I had to reconnect with my why. Why did I get into what I am doing? If my reason is money (which it did), I am not in it for the right reason. So I had to take money out of the equation and reconnect with the reason why I am here. To add value to many lives with the way in which I cater to their needs naturally.