Are you too sympathetic?

Most of us spend our lives walking around thinking we're immortal. Not in a literal sense, but we never really consider how fragile we are until something goes seriously wrong.

It's comforting to think that we are something more than the sum of our parts, I suppose that's why the idea of a spirit protected by a God is so appealing. That no matter what, we will never really come to any harm.

But the truth as I see it is that we are mortal, our bodies are strong but will eventually stand the test of time and that will be it. We will age, and we will weaken; the only thing we can control is how and when that happens. They say the only certainty in life is death, sounds pretty morose doesn't it? I don't think so, sounds liberating to me.

The idea of an endless existence doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I can't think of anything that I wouldn't get bored of eventually, and then what? We have a limited amount of time to be as happy as possible, and in order to do that we need to prioritise doing what makes us happy.

Many people see this as an invitation to cram as much into every day as possible. We all try to seize the day. The best career, the best social life, hobbies, relationships, family and then all of the essential things like sleeping, training and eating.

Where does this leave us?


Fried

We are over-stimulated and as a result incredibly stressed. Our sympathetic nervous (SNS)system is in overdrive, we don't have the time to recover and so we age fast, we feel tired and generally speaking although we may be busy are we really happy?

People often suggest ways to reduce stress, by reducing the activity of the SNS. Better diet, better exercise etc. It will help but it is not the be all and end all. In order to get the full benefits of stress relief people need to engage in activities that promote recovery by increasing the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).

Here are some options:

Yoga
Baths
Massage
Meditation
Reading
Listening to music

The most common objection to this is not having the time. What I tend to do in this situation is to offer a thought.

“The best time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.”



When was the last time you just went and sat outside and zoned out? Spent half an hour, just sitting looking at a view and enjoying being relaxed. If it was the last time you went abroad then you should reconsider how you view rest and relaxation.

It is impossible to be active and effective all of the time. In order to really be the best version of yourself you need to treat yourself like an athlete.

An athlete will spend a moderate amount of time working very hard, to improve themselves, but they then will spend a similar amount of time recovering, allowing themselves to remain in balance. If they trained all day every day and operated on 6 hours sleep they would just be constantly working at a low intensity. Never improving and never being capable of their best.


Your life should be similar, when you work, word hard and efficiently. When you're done, stop, and relax.