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Modern humans are pulling further away from our evolutionary roots. We have incredible technology available to us and though we struggle to find balance in this wild modern day world we live in, in the grand scheme of things, humans have it pretty good now.
THAT SAID, our ability to care for our deep health is pulling further and further away due to the unlimited options and flexibility that our technology and modern lifestyles offer.
Recently, I received an invoice payment from a client. This bill was paid and sent to me, via etransfer at 11:42pm on a Saturday night. 😳 I should preface this with the fact that this is NO WHERE NEAR the first time something like this has happened over the years. However, it continues to surprise me.
Some might say "Deal with it Coach - You're being paid". True. However, I do what I do for a living because I want to help others. Pointing out these hidden stressors and habits that work against my clients' deep health IS part of my job.
We are VERY MUCH working against Mother Nature
Within are physiology, as with all living beings, is something called Circadian Rhythms. This innate "time-keeper" helps our physiology know when to start waking up, slow down, sleep etc. Unfortunately, we ignore these rhythms in the name of entertainment (Netflix, social media...), technology, work or a host of other reasons in today's modern society. My key point in this post isn't the fact that people stay up late (that's a different discussion completely), but instead my point is;
"Why are we 'working' and/or paying bills at nearly midnight??"
I know; "Maybe this person didn't want to forget so did it right away".
This lends itself to the fact that MOST of us are living "reactively" or "compulsively" instead of "intentionally"... and it is negatively impacting our deep health!
We could go down a rabbit hole with this one folks. Some people could argue "maybe the client hadn't checked their email in the past few days" (as the invoice was sent a few days prior to the payment being made). Ok, that's possible. So my next question would be;
"Why are we checking email at 11:42pm on a Saturday night?"
It's pointing out our own struggles today balancing our technology and health...
If we're still up at 11:42pm on a Saturday night, it would be great if we're enjoying the company of others. In which case I'll argue- why are we on our phone or device?
If we're not with others at this time of night, perhaps we're watching a movie, sports event or show - in which case, why are we on our phone/device checking email?
If we're up late ANY night of the week (20 minutes before midnight in this example) WHY are we working and/or paying bills?? What will waiting until the following day (only 8hrs later) do that would be any different than sending it immediately?
*Side Note: We CAN continue to do all of these things. BUT if we CHOOSE to live in this way, we CAN'T complain that our energy is low and our health is not where we would like it to be!! There are tradeoffs in most choices.
I've had (too many) clients in the past who not only would be paying bills late at night, but who would be full on working (after working ALL DAY!) at all hours of the night. Seriously. Guess what? Every single one of these clients were dealing with chronic health issues and were sacrificing sleep for work. Some would be up MOST nights until midnight or 1am and up early. You'd be shocked at how many massage appointments are booked here at the studio at all times of night/morning (1am for example). 😳
Again, I (we) are grateful for the business. But people!!... We are NOT helping ourselves, our energy OR our deep health by living life in this way!!!
Imagine if our ancestors lived this way? Imagine if throughout the night, they took a torch and wandered around gathering food, fire wood or doing various tasks etc on a regular basis? They would have LITTLE to NO ENERGY to survive during the daylight hours when things could be done more "easily" and efficiently. They'd be exhausted and in the end, humans would not have survived. I'm not saying humans slept 7-9hrs straight (there's still debate in that department), but I am saying that our human ancestors were living on instincts / their innate physiology, without working against it. They were not ignorant to their nature as we are today in our distracted world. When it was dark, things naturally winded down. When it was light, they did what they needed to do to survive - no more, no less. They instinctively knew, that if they did "too much" there would be LESS energy for whatever may arise that day (hunting, gathering, dealing with dangers, moving with the tribe etc). They were not always "on". They lived a tough existence without question, but I would argue they balanced work, rest and play WAY better than we do today.
We swing the pendulum WAY TOO FAR in one direction constantly in today's world.
OK, rant over (for now). How can we improve on these habits that are NEGATIVELY impacting our deep health?
Time Management Habits. Practice ways to manage your time by using your technology as an advantage. With the tools we have, we can schedule things in our calendar, set alarms/reminders etc. Once we've done so, we now just have to stick to that schedule (which may take practice).
Find YOUR balance. We can't work or "be on" 24/7. Our physiology needs to work as much as it needs to recover, and vice versa. When you look at your daily schedule, look at how much time is spent "doing" vs "time for YOU". Aim to create at least SOME time to care for yourself (i.e. NOT working, NOT paying bills, NOT being 'on') every day.
Use lists and/or Journaling to manage important tasks. While you're scheduling your day, create a practice of doing TOMORROW's to-do list. This will help you "brain dump" anything you need to remember to get done. Once it's on the list, you don't have to worry about "forgetting" because it will be there for you the next day. This will allow things such as paying bills, work or other important to-do's to be done at a time of day that won't impact your health and wellbeing. Personally, I have a list for Monday to Friday in my Google Tasks. This way, each day I can visit that day's to-do list and check off whatever needs to get done. It also helps me organize my week so that I'm not trying to get "everything" done on one day.
Use technology to your advantage and automate tasks to give YOU more time. Technology can work FOR us as much as it can CONSUME us. In fact, it was designed to work FOR us - Learn to use it in that way for the better of your health and wellbeing.
-Schedule text messages, emails or social media posts ahead of time. This allows you to write them when it is convenient for YOU.
-Set up automatic payments for certain bills so that you can protect your post-work hours and not "work" after work.
-Use the 'Do Not Disturb' button to your advantage and protect your time when you don't want to be available.
-Set reminders and/or alarms to remind you of upcoming to-do's, events scheduled, work tasks etc so you're not trying to remember the 1000 things you need to get done in a week.
Promote REST and RECOVERY in your daily routines. We are 100% DESTROYING our health by doing things like work and bills at ALL HOURS of the day and night. Add on top of that our bombardment of "noise" in our day; multi-tasking, social media, constantly checking our phones/devices, working past work hours, being available 24/7 to anyone... Shift that energy. Take the energy and push that you have in these damaging practices and put it to work FOR YOU instead of AGAINST YOU. Practice REST and RECOVERY. Remember, that doesn't mean you do "nothing". It means you change things up (which can be 'active' too). It also means whatever you choose is about YOU, what YOU need, what YOU want for your deep helath; A hobby, a visit with a close friend or family member, a hike/walk, a day trip somewhere, time outdoors, learning something new... The possibilities are abundant.
Please remember, these ideas/practices WILL take TIME. It will require ACTION and CONSISTENCY like anything we practice to create sustainable change. However, in this case, it will also GIVE YOU a sense of CONTROL in your days and weeks in regards to your time and energy. Now THAT is a pretty good tradeoff for putting in the effort with practices like these I would say! 😉
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