Our body needs rest

In our society, it is very common to suffer from stress, living in such a hurry is causing us serious physical and emotional problems. I tell you that a few years ago, I worked in a city that is two hours away from where I live now, and little by little I began to feel bad, with headaches, dizziness and even insomnia. One day, I was in the office and everything was spinning so violently that I could not get up from my chair, so a friend and colleague took me to the clinic. After several studies, I was diagnosed with cervical rectification due to sustained stress, which led me to many hours of physical therapy and some neurological therapy, to calm my mind a little. I needed rest.

At that time I was getting up at 4:30 AM and going to bed around midnight, I had a very complicated work and home routine, my children were small and my husband was not in town because he was recently married and had been transferred. My children and I had to leave an hour early to get to school and work on time and we were back home after six in the evening. Then I would start my second shift with all the housework and schoolwork. On top of that, my job was quite demanding, my children's daycare was until 5:30 and even though I left at 4:30, I stayed working that extra hour every day, I also used to eat in front of the computer to save time and many times I would go to the office on weekends, taking advantage of my husband's presence.

Now that I look back on it, I don't think it's worth the sacrifice. When we are in a job, our bosses make us believe that everything collapses if we do not comply with this or that last minute requirement, which often arise: "this is for yesterday", applies to almost everything and many times after killing yourself working and delivering the urgent of the day, it is not even reviewed until days later.

When I think of all the damage I caused to my organism, it seems absurd; literally, in a job no one is indispensable. We should not demand more of ourselves than what is healthy, because even the body begins to scream through symptoms that we are abusing: headaches, backaches, shoulder and neck pains, an accelerated rhythm when speaking and acting, insomnia, among many others. In the end, the immune system weakens and we get sick.

And I am not saying that we should not fulfill our obligations, there are commitments that are unavoidable, but there are situations in which it is necessary to say "I can't now", before committing to a new task, when we are already overloaded with work. Everything has a limit and it is a way to make us respect ourselves. I came to apply it when I humanly had no more hours available during the week, but I should have done it before, when I frequently exceeded my working day; as they say: "nothing in excess is good".

Time for recreation, rest and sharing with the family is necessary and irreplaceable. It is important that we take care of ourselves, especially when our children depend on us.

Thanks to God for every moment of life
and to you for joining me in this reading.

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Translation courtesy of DeepL.com}