Three years ago, I took a job that I was the natural culmination of many, many years of study… but really, I was in no way ready for what I was getting into. I didn’t know that I was kissing goodbye the “living” part of my life! Taking my job, I let go of the things that had allowed me to be on top of my game, happy and satisfied, and in their place I put the job. That’s it. It meant sleepless nights, working evenings and weekends, and never being finished. I haven’t found the enjoyment and fulfillment in this that others have, and I have taken it out on my body.
I can sum up my physical decay with the 4Ss:
- Stress
- Sleep (or lack of it)
- Sugar
- Sedentary living
I’m a bit predisposed to #1: stress. I let it get to me, and as a bit of a perfectionist, I derive some anxiety out of knowing that I’m never doing my best, but instead the best I can in the circumstances. Overcommitment is also an offender here, but ultimately, when there is no work-life balance in your life, there’s bound to be some stress!
#2 follows #1: the more I have to do, the less I’m going to sleep. And the more stressed I am, the less I will sleep, even given the chance. The effects of insufficient sleep on a body are well-documented, and I would like to thank my frenemy, cortisol, for helping me gain at least some of this weight.
#3 and 4 go hand in hand: having set my priorities all wrong, I haven’t been sleeping enough and have allowed myself to become too sedentary—and the quick fix to both of those has been sugar. It’s my drug of choice, my favourite cheat, my greatest downfall. There are 16 calories in one teaspoon of white sugar. Sugar consumption seems to be spiralling out of control in the modern diet, and I might be with the vanguard on that one.
So: I know the problems, now… to the solutions!
