Overload

I have no Partner, no Parents(in the physical form), no Pets or Potplants. It's what I refer to as the 4 P's! I am as unattached as you could possibly get. I have no sense of attachment to any particular piece of clothing, or piece of furniture or dwelling The only attachment I have is to God! We all want to be successful. Have the car, the house and the approval and acknowledgment of others that our life is the bees knees! We've done well and we want other's to know it too! But what price do we pay to achieve this goal?

I have a wide variety of clients. Some gay, some straight, some woman, some married, some old, some non-caucasian, some thin etc etc. They are however mostly "A-type personalities" who want to achieve goals in their lives. There is nothing wrong in wanting to do this. But in some circumstances a couple of my clients have let their success and the measure of it completely overtake their lives. I have a client in advertising who the other day received 450 emails IN A DAY, and I'm sure there are many of you out there who receive more than that, but that workload is not sustainable. We all have demands placed on us by work, friends and family. He has deadlines, clients who change things last minute and expect it to be done last week already. The pressure to perform and the responsibilty to not fail becomes overwhelming. We all have a built in redundancy that will not allow us to do more than we are capable of.  That redundancy is our health.

The abovementioned client, I'll name him Mark, was summoned to his Doctor last week as he had a couple blood tests done and the Doctor was concerned about the results. Mark was just as concerned and with his busy life this placed him under even more stress. The good Doctor informed Mark that his blood pressure was high enough to warrant being placed on stronger medication and he would also have to monitor it more regularly. There were a couple other issues that also needed to be addressed. It's clear to me that the stress of Mark's life is now beginning to manifest in his health. His body is signalling that it cannot cope with the demands being placed on it. Now, not only has Mark got to be concerned with the stress of life he also has to be concerned with his health. He's pushing beyond his capability and his body is letting him know.

But Mark is trapped. He is on the wheel of success and it's spinning faster and faster. He now finds himself unable to climb off the wheel or let it slow down. He can't say no to work because all  that will do is make his clients source from other agency's who will. He has responsibilities to his family, friends, work colleagues and himself. All he can do is work harder..and harder...and harder...until his health fails and he will be FORCED to take action. I've told Mark he needs to take a vacation and do it soon. His schedule however does not allow for this....

I have another client, let's call him Paul, who is as hardworking as Mark. Paul likes to run and cycle. He does a minimum of a 30km run and 40km cycle a week. Lately the stress of work has begun to take it's toll. And this has become evident in his health. He's had a bad spate of "Klingon" flu, he's had tonsilitis(twice) and a couple of muscle strains. Basically his body is also trying to signal him he is now working outside of his body's parameters. Paul is trying to shred his bodyfat so is happy with the results he's achieved over the last couple months, but because he is not replacing adequately the nutrients his busy workload and excercise routine are placing on him his body is taking the beating. He's becoming irritable, lethargic, having sleepless nights and diminished thinking processes. He's on a low carb diet and with all that's going on with him is basically running on empty. He's trying to sqeeeze out of his body something that is not there and he is paying the price.

I asked a client the other day when last she had hand written someone a letter and used a stamp to mail it to someone special in her life. Michelle(not her real name) responded that it had been a decade ago when she was on holiday in New York. I actually can't even remember when last I had. How did we cope without the technology we have today back then? What I've found is that although email and internet and cell phones have made it easier for us to work, we are now faced with doing the work of so many more in a day that has not gotten any longer. We are always reachable no matter where we are on the planet. We are taking care of the demands other's place on us, but we also have to strike that balance in order to make sure we ourselves are not sacrificed in doing so. You cannot take care of other's if you do not take care of yourself!