Clearly health and career is related. Being happy with and enjoying your job is crucial to your overall well-being. Instead of staying exactly as you are and dealing with the illnesses as they arise- make a commitment to yourself today to DO something about it. These cues, the subtle warning signs of aches, general lethargy, bowel issues, and headaches- are just warning signs that your body is sending you saying: Make a change!

Before we shift into some resources today, I wanted to take a moment to ask you- have you noticed how your body is linked to your career? Have you ever paused to check in to see how you “feel” about your job? And when I say feel… I don’t mean what you think of your job. I mean how you feel.

So let’s leave the “thoughts” and “mind” behind for a moment. When I ask how you feel about your job, don’t start thinking of all of the things you like or dislike about your work. If I ask how you feel, pause, and take stock of your role. When you bring to mind your “job” what happens in your body? What do you notice or sense?

Do things tense up? Is there any pain or aches? Is anything tight? Even now, as I write this piece… I JUST checked in with my own body as I am encouraging you to do so, and guess what? My shoulders were raised so high they could have been shelves for my ears! I was so tense and tight and I didn’t even realize it! So really… take a moment. Close your eyes and think of your job. What happens in your body?

Ok, beyond that… let me ask a second question. Reflect back over the past year or so. How many times have you been sick? Or not even sick- but just sort of tired, slowed, maybe had a scratchy throat, maybe just a tension headache- how many times were you not in your ideal state of health? Now, I know… there can be many things that contribute to this. But for today’s purposes and for this month’s focus… just reflect. Is any of this work related?

Are you tense, tired, or stressed because of your job? Do you have pains or aches because of work? Is something on your mind that is making your health unsettled? Sometimes we are so rushed and hurried we don’t even put two and two together. We just move on past, brush it on by, and take a Tylenol hoping all will be “better” in the morning.

So for today’s blog post you have two homework assignments:

1. Check in with your body as you sit quietly and reflect upon your job. What happens inside of your body? How do you feel?
2. Look back over the course of your past year or two. How often were you sick? How often did you not feel your best? Are any of your issues related to your work environment?

Ok, well let’s start to shift some of this with one resource for today.

To start off with, I want to look to the past. And I am talking way, way back. Look back to when you were a child, a school-aged child, maybe even younger. What did you enjoy so much? So, so much that you had to be dragged away from? What did you just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to do? What did your parents have to drag you away from?

If you have trouble coming up with things, ask around. Ask your siblings. Ask your parents or grandparents, aunts or uncles. Ask those who were around you at various ages. And then also reflect upon the times you can remember. Think back to grammar school, middle school, and high school. Where did you spend your time? If I traveled back to those days, what would I observe you doing? What are the things you had in your room, your locker, or your car?

Remembering what we enjoy is so useful for our current work state of adulthood. Because what we want to do is bring more of the things we enjoyed, the things we loved to do, into our current work status.

So start thinking about these things. And do your homework assignments from this blog post. Check in with your body and your feelings. Observe your health/illness patterns and states. Start looking through and examining your past. Let me know what you come up with. I’d love to hear how it went for you!