The last 3 weeks I made an important discovery. I overwork when I work in the shadows.
Although the last 3 years have been a hybrid working situation, working from home, working from the office, two significant things have changed.
Firstly, I lost my home office due to moving houses, and we set up an office space in our bedroom. I have noticed a gradual shift in stealing work bytes when I am not actually supposed to be working. Secondly, my husband has been away for a few weeks, and without him around, there wasn’t anyone to pull me away from my work.
Both those things meant I was sneaking in small chunks of work, on my bed, in my PJs, in between cooking…And because I love what I do, I fell prey to a burnout trap. I was crowding out time to reflect as and replenish as Valerie – human being, and clock out of work Valerie.
These are my weakest “R”s (you can get my burnout prevention e-book from my website
www.valerieling.com). Consistently. Because I was working in the “shadows” there wasn’t someone around to pace with me and help me power down, or notice that I was working out of reactive energy, and nobody to hold me accountable!
You know what the great news is? It’s not too late to start. It is never too late to start. For me, the best thing to do is to take a drive to a scenic spot not too far from me, have a walk and reflect. With self compassion and grace, I will ask myself – what’s one thing I can do about not working in the shadows in the coming week.
That’s where I am heading now.
Great article.