I am a workaholic. I am. I love to be busy, creating, manifesting. The summer holidays is looming and this year Mr T and I have chosen to spend a few weeks of it at home. Two weeks at home, with no work. My mind was racing, what the heck am I going to do? How do people fill their time with nothing. To me this is an alien concept. As I work from home, means that if I sit down for five minutes I can find something that needs doing. it’s never ending. Do you know the feeling?
And then recently I was watching a Ted Talk by Shonda Rimes, an extremely successful TV producer, screenwriter and author; talking about saying yes to everything and it struck me that in all of this work I am starting to miss out on all the important things that make life worth living.
In Shonda’s talk she calls the buzz of life “The hum”. That feeling of being in the moment when we are creating and everything is flowing. It is a feeling I am lucky enough to know well. I get it whenever I am working with a client or running a workshop. The “hum” is that feeling when everything is all good, when you strive for greatness. The “hum” is your joy. It’s addictive and never ending. It can take over everything.
However according to Shonda when this feeling comes from work, this is the false “hum”. She talked about how one day her “hum” just stopped. After all we are only human and we cannot run on work alone. What happens when you stop. What are you when your “hum” stops? For Shonda she found a new hum. Not in new projects or business. She found her new “hum” in playing with her children. In the peace and simplicity of taking 15 minutes to play.
Play is the opposite of work. The old saying “All work and no play makes jack a dull boy” is true. The hum is not work specific. It joy specific. And in play we can find joy. I mean why do we ever stop playing? Playing is a place where life feels good. In a way it is a place of zen. A place for us to find our “hum” our essential self. Work is not a place which makes us who we are. When we do nothing but work we become dull. When we play, find the place where we can find our joy we shine. And I can hear your work driven brain saying “yeah, yeah but where do I find the time?” you don’t need a lot of time. 15 minutes a day to play with your kids, read a book do whatever it is that makes you you. 15 uninterrupted unadulterated minutes where all those things that need doing just slip away and the world is briefly you own and full of your joy.
Taking 15 mins a day to play, to experience joy is freeing. It releases us from the guilt of workaholica. It rejuvenates, re energises and inspires you. And giving yourself this time to breath, to be actually improves your working life. The more in touch with ourselves we are, the more grounded and stronger we become. That benefits every aspect of our lives personal, public and professional. I have now spent some time trying out this tehory and believe me it works. what I love about it is that it works for everyone. Each and everyone of us has 15 minutes we can use on our joy in our day. And when we dedicate time to our joy it is here we find our true “hum”. The true point in life where everything is flowing, in fact where everything flows from.
To be honest these days workaholica is considered a socially acceptable way of getting ahead in the world. But so is being grounded, knowing who we are and being strongly, authentically ourselves. Taking 15 minutes a day for you and your joy Saying yes to our own joy and making that important gives us the opportunity to be authentically who we are, to become grounded in ourselves and know what our “hum” is, is in fact an important part of being a workaholic and making our way ahead in the world. After all who really wants to be dull anyway
Try it. This weekend. Connect with your joy. Put your social media, friends birthday party, house cleaning or essay writing on hold and take 15 minutes to make you happy and find your hum…
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