As I write this, I am sitting in my hotel room here in Bangalore – a trip that is focused on work and client meetings. To tell you, it has been a crazy-busy week. The more you think you can go for a stroll on the roads to experience the city, the more caught up you are with your pending work.
Work can actually consume you in ways that you cannot imagine.
But I learned over a period of time, you cannot compromise with your own personal self-time – time that is made for you and scheduled for your personal pursuit – be it going on a long walk to a nearby book shop or catching up with your friends with your favorite mojito and rock music playing at the back.
And sometimes even if you feel you are having personal time to refuel ourselves, we still don’t do justice to it.
The question is: are you fully charged up not just for work but also for living life fully and experiencing the little sweet moments that you happen to extenuate while you feel you are busy working but somehow not able to capture the freshness of the moment?
The answer is: yes and no. To put it in a more practical version, it is largely somewhere in between.
We all want that sweet time where we find comfort, rest, and rejuvenation.
Let’s be honest, you cannot constantly straddle between your work and personal life all the time. That is why it is important to be on the other side – that is feeling alive and celebrating your very existence.
But how?
Starting points could be just daydreaming – have you ever just gazed at a painting in your office, which one of your colleague, who is also an artist, has painted and felt still in that moment in a way where the painting also communicates with you?
Do you feel in connect with your soul when you slowly breathe out while letting go of things you can’t hold on to?
Do you read a book that is completely different from your favorite genre and find ideas that can be put to use in your work?
Or put simply, do you slowly stretch your lips and land up smiling while you feel the cool breeze?
For me, my favorite personal time that did prep me up was sipping Bangalore’s delectable South Indian filter coffee and reading about books on music and creativity –ah! – a delight to savor. (At least for now.)
So make some time for yourself, which is non-negotiable and keep work away.
You live life once – so live it your way while ensuring your work doesn’t suffer. And why would it? You are doing all you can to be fully charged for next week yet being mindful of the moment.
The point is: live a meaningful existence and seize the moment – you will never get it again.
Once you start living fully with an all-embracing vigor to find space for yourself even when you are at work, you know you are doing a good job – at work and in life, too!
