Workation – escape from freedom
Some of us have had a proper holiday, some have worked through summer and some of us have been on a workation, working with laptop during the official vacation. While shifting from work mode to vacation it may be inconvenient to become just yourself without the professional identity and face the facts related to your personal life. It’s paradoxical that in the beginning of a vacation one’s head can turn into a very full head (and not in terms of mindfulness but just full) instead of getting it empty. The overwhelming free time changes work issues to “me issues”. Many of us end up escaping our freedom by dealing some not really so important work issues by email or phone. Usually those things could easily be delegated to someone else, agreed before the vacation. Most of those things could also wait for a few weeks. Still, we are all different, so for someone dealing work issues every once in a while during the holiday may decrease stress and bring peace of mind. Therefore listening to your own heart is important. Is it voluntary and nice or demanding, stressing or annoying?
Every now and then it’s good to check the rules of the game with employer and colleagues. The best and surprisingly usual thing is, that the employer doesn’t demand workations from its employees either. Sometimes the work community can flow in a collective illusion: they all have drifted into a state of constant alert, even when no one has called for that, not even the employer.
If there is no external pressure for workation, and you slip to check emails as a habit, even when you would not want to – then you should wake up your skills of self management. The emails can always be substituted by playing cards or a good book or anything else. In a way or another your brains need to rest and get some variation in their work load.
Life is about different kind of phases, like small seasons. Getting started with work again after a holiday is a possibility to change something. If you managed to be truly present with your family and yourself during your vacation, you could focus on that also after work. Some holiday routines can be continued after work has started. Free time is a state of mind and it can be built up anywhere.
You are the only you
What could teach us to find presence with ourselves and our close ones? If you haven’t listened to your heart lately, there might be some empty echo around. All of us have unused strengths, forgotten hopes and hidden resources. What will happen to you, if you loose yourself or – what’s quite common – you have never even found your true self? How can we learn to recognize the things that are truly and deeply meaningful and important for us? When a person starts to talk about something close to his values, his eyes start sparkling and sometimes even positive tears pop up. Then we know one’s heart is being listened and the subject in hand reflects this person’s own values. Think of yourself, what would you talk or think about to feel like that?
Listening to one’s heart is easily left behind or half way during busy and full years with work, family, small kids or taking care of older parents. Life is like seasons but also like waves: at some moment there are more resources for self-examination than some other time. Still, even a small stopping makes life more manageable. Listening to your own values is possible to turn into a new habit. No one else will do it for you. If health and family are high in your values, why to spend most of your time to work, mobile phone apps or demands of all others. By prioritizing your own health, by being more present with your closest ones and by doing things that give you joy, you become better you. Then you can enjoy work more and even be more productive. It’s all about the balance and the balance is different for all of us.
In the end changing requires very simple things: doing the important things, doing less not so important things and courage to follow own hopes. Your values and self management skills help to see which things are important. The balance and joy can be found step by step and while proceeding, they tend to attract more positive people and positive things in life. It also spreads good around both at home and work. For employer, too, the individual is the only resource available and the individual needs to be taken care of. Modern work requires responsibility from both employer and employee what comes to workplace wellness. If employees start to manage their life better, it also forces the employer check its processes. It takes two to tango – to lead and follow.
Have you found your muchness?
Mad Hatter is worried about Alice in the movie Alice in wonderland. He says: “You’re not the same as you were before, you were much more… muchier… you’ve lost your muchness.” Something similar could be said about Mad Hatter himself, who has been forced to give up his profession due to some external circumstances. If someone loves making hats, he can’t be happy, if he can’t make hats. Work is a rewarding part of life for many, but at the same time we need the balance already mentioned. A positive enthusiasm and flow for work gives a lot, but it needs to be managed. If work is the boss, something else and often even health weakens slower or faster.
I think the term ”muchness” contains an aspect of good enough, which is much. I could say that ”muchness” is a holistic state of mind where a person feels sufficient, follows his own values, feels joy of succeeding, feels beneficial utilizing one’s own strengths – without forgetting one’s heart and honesty. Have you found your muchness? If not, there are expeditions* available.
*Movendos Wellness Coaching is an individual, value based and personal coaching model. It helps to recognize your own values and what is important for you. On a practical level it helps to develop time and life management skills to increase holistic well-being. We see the person as whole – the content is always based on the coachee’s own situation of life, values and needs.
For now we do individual remote coaching for companies and public organisations and their employers. We always prove the efficacy of the coaching as well. In coaching we apply behavioral and health sciences, long experience and expertise of our team not to forget our own secured and tested remote and survey technology.
