Guest Post: Even Workaholics Need to Take their Travel Days, Science Tells Us So

The most successful professionals know the value of hard work. Often, workaholism and professional success go hand-in-hand. Unfortunately, workaholism and good mental health don’t go hand-in-hand. The facts tell us that travel provides fresh perspective and mental health benefits that everybody – especially those who never seem to take time off – could use. 





To keep stress levels low and to help mental well-being, spouses of workaholics, and the worker bees themselves, should engage in non-business related travel from time to time.

 

(Photo via Pixabay)

The Dangers of Overworking

The health consequences of overwork can’t be overstated. The dangers that come with long hours and shift work – such as the abnormal hours hospital employees face – are many, and they’re not to be taken lightly.

A milder consequence of pushing oneself too far at work is reduced job performance. Even when you think you’re doing a good job for your employer by staying longer or taking the graveyard shift, studies show that this is most often not the case. Running on fumes means a product or service that is worse in quality than if you were properly rested or were able to manage your workload more reasonably. But poor performance pales in comparison to the health risks associated with overworking.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information publishes many studies on health, and one in particular shows that overly long work hours carry the risk of obesity, on-the-job injury, and chronic disease. In Japan, approximately 30,000 suicides per year are thought to be related to economic and work-related pressures. This is not fear-mongering, it’s factual, and it should help inform why taking time off from work for vacation is so important.

The Flipside: Benefits of Travel on Mental Health

 (Photo via Pixabay)

PsychCentral has detailed the benefits of travel on our mental health. The neurological benefits of taking your mind completely off of work-related responsibilities are immense.Travel forces us to use different parts of our brain, especially when you’re in unfamiliar territory. For example, if you travel somewhere outside of the States where poverty or other factors mean a challenging quality of life, you’ll gain perspective on your own problems. Consider too the benefits of navigating a foreign language or city, tasting new food and experiencing different cultures.

Our biological functions are improved when we travel, too. The Perfect World Project references a study from the University of Surrey which showed that people experience more happiness when anticipating an upcoming vacation. New experience helps to sharpen the mind, and travel has also been proven to reduce stress, which increases our blood pressure and is common in the overworked population.

Traveling is also synonymous with a fortified immune system. According to CBS, your relationships may emerge stronger, too. The monotony of our daily routine is not always conducive to romance, and taking a trip with your partner has the opposite effect; it’s spice for your love life.

The best part is that when it comes to travel, your options are limitless. Not to mention that there are myriad ways to find the perfect vacation online. Some quick research will yield plenty of results and make booking your travel that much easier.

(Photo via Pixabay)

When you’re planning your trip, part of your travel arrangements should be securing your home and arranging care for your pet, especially if you’re a dog owner. Having these pieces of the puzzle in place will help keep worry and stress low during your absence. Even if it means hiring a pet sitter, it’s smart to shell out a little extra dough for your dog’s benefit.

It’s often more difficult for us to have fun than to remain stagnant. Breaking a routine, especially one that allows us to pay bills and provide a better life for our family, is not always easy. Understanding the dangers that overworking pose to our health and conversely the proven benefits that travel has on our mental and physical well-being is key. It helps us to understand that money pales in comparison to our health and happiness. So stop grinding your fingers to the bone, plan a vacation, and start enjoying the perks which begin even before you head to the airport.

Jennifer Scott has experienced anxiety and depression since she was a teenager. She shares stories about the ups and downs of her anxiety and depression at SpiritFinder. With SpiritFinder.org, Ms. Scott offers a forum where those living with anxiety and depression can discuss their experiences.

Mental Health Series - Veteran Support

Veteran Support is an important aspect of Mental Health. Many veterans come back from serving their country with physical and mental issues. Many veterans don't even understand what is happening to them. Or, they don't want to admit what is happening and don't seek the help they need. 

Transiting from the armed forces to civilian life may not be as easy as it could be for some people. Some Veterans need some support to help them find their way in the civilian world. There are resources for that in your community and on the Internet.

You may need to find a job, find a place to live, or even find health care to help you in your time of need.

Veterans perform a job with the military that can reflect no other. Their courage, strength, and fortitude are matchless. We must not forget the sacrifices they and their families made while they were serving our country.

One of the first places someone can turn to is the Department of Veteran Affairs. Not only will they help you establish your GI Bill, if need be, but they can help you with establishing a VA loan for housing and obtaining medical benefits.

Not every veteran who returns from a tour in the military finds their footing. There are organizations and community resources to give you a step up and a helping hand, if necessary.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a serious disorder afflicting many of our veterans. It’s a serious, silent illness that can keep a person from pursing the happier moments of being home and among family. There is support for PTSD as well in the form of therapy, counseling, and hospitalization depending on the severity.

Things that a newly returning veteran can do are establishing a routine. Don’t become complacent or discontent with your situation. Work to make a change for the better. If you need to find a job, look for one in the local papers, use your network with the VA, and join community services that help you locate employment.

If finding a place to live is your priority, you can do that as well. Use your VA resources, your ability to purchase a home with a VA loan, and other resources available in your community to locate housing.

If healthcare is your priority, you can definitely use the VA resources to find medical care at a Veterans Hospital or clinic. If one isn’t currently available in your area, contact the Department of Veteran Affairs to find the one closest to your area.

It’s important to stay positive and upbeat. You are a survivor. You are a hero. You are confident and strong. Use the help of family and friends to establish your civilian life and before you know it, you’ll be telling stories of the time you were in the military to your friends over a nice barbeque in your new backyard.

You can always find support from your local church and if you aren't going to church, finding one can go a long way to recovery. Prayer works. God will not forsake you. 

Another way to help yourself is to put your thoughts in writing. Creating a journal can help you work through issues that you may not be able to vocalize. Once you find a therapist, you can either share what you've written, or work on creating other forms of writing/journaling that can help you recover. 

Mental Health Series - Helping Others Cope with Mental Illness

Helping someone you love, who has a mental illness, can be difficult. Providing the support the need may not always be easy.

Many family members blame themselves for the illnesses of their loved one. Don’t do that. It’s not your fault.  It’s important for families “to learn that they didn’t cause [their loved one’s disorder] and they can’t cure it,” according to Harriet Lefley, Ph.D, professor at the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine who’s worked with families for 25 years.

However, how you treat them can have a major impression on their well being. Here are some tips to follow when supporting someone you love with a mental illness.

• Educate yourself about the illness
• Seek resources
•  Be realistic about your expectations
•  Reach out to family and friends for support
•  Work closely with your loved one’s medical support team

Learn all you can by talking to doctors, psychiatrists, therapists, and any one else on your loved one’s medical support team about the type of illness and what to expect.

There are many Internet and community resources available for your support as well as the support of your loved one. You can locate them, interview them, and determine if they’re a suitable resource.

When being realistic about your expectations, understand that there is no cure for mental illness. If your loved one has to stay in the hospital for any length of time and released, they are not “cured”, only stabilized to some point.

Don’t try to do everything on your own. You can’t be there 24/7 for your loved one as well as keep up with a job, family, children, social life, house, and other responsibilities. Ask for help. Ask family and friends to step in and be there for you. Ask for an afternoon off so that you can do some shopping or get a manicure or pedicure. Find some time to yourself so that you can recharge your own personal batteries.

Have a hobby that you can continue to do, even while supporting your loved one. It’s important for you to stay mentally and physically healthy as well. Don’t give up seeing your friends. You need that social interaction to motivate you.

If necessary, keep a journal. It will not only be beneficial to your loved one’s medical support team to know about all the ups and downs of his/her mental illness, but to understand how you are coping as well. Use the journal to vent your emotions and record your own ups and downs with supporting a loved one with a mental illness. Getting the thoughts out of your head and onto paper can bring a great relief.

Separated at Birth - Job and Me

 I've often wondered why so many innocent people must suffer. A day doesn't go by that I hear about one tragedy after another¾church bombings, school shootings. The list goes on. What tears at my heart the most are the same questions being asked over and over by so many people. There are those that try to convince others that God lets people suffer because He is vengeful and has turned His back on His people. "They" say that if God truly loved us, He wouldn’t let such horrible things happen. Why would God let the innocent suffer?

I don't believe that God is "letting" us suffer. I believe that he is acting like a parent by guiding us and showing us the way, but in the end, letting us make our own decisions. It's called Free Will. And God gave it to all of us.

The most famous sufferer in all of biblical times was Job.

Before I studied the book of Job, I only knew that this simple, humble man had a really great life and then, seemingly from nowhere, horrible things started happening to him. What did he ever do to deserve such a life?

Was Job being punished for not loving God enough? Was Job being punished for something his children did? Did God stop loving Job? Was Job being held up as an example for all people?

As a very young child in Sunday school, eager to learn all I could, it was difficult to grasp the concept of our Almighty God as a living breathing entity, and I only had a community-esque view of the basic parent/child relationship. But, I got this message through the cartoon images our Sunday school teacher used.

Job was a child of God.

So, as my Sunday school teacher revealed the rest of the story to me, I learned that Job wasn't really being punished at all, but was being tested to prove his faithfulness to his Father. God wanted to prove how faithful Job really was to Him.

God was showing off.

And, just like most children who don't understand what their parents are doing, Job was confused and didn't understand why God would do this to him. He was a good man. A God fearing man. A normal, everyday person who kept to himself and didn't make waves. And, although he had all that going for him, although he didn't deserve it, he was still handpicked by God to be tested like no man had ever been tested before.

He was tested.

I truly believe Job and I were separated at birth.

Did you ever do math word puzzles as a child? Do you remember one that went something like this? Jane and John are twins. Jane was born in 1970 and John was born in 1969. Explain how this could happen if they were born only six minutes apart. Of course the answer is that Jane was born on January 1, 1970, at three minutes after midnight, and John was born on December 31, 1969 at three minutes before midnight. Easy, right?

So how do I explain that I think Job and I were separated at birth by a few thousand years?

Originally, I only knew that this simple, humble man had a really great life and then, seemingly from nowhere, horrible things started happening to him. What did he ever do to deserve such a life?

Did God stop loving Job? These were the kind of questions we were asked during class.

As I said before, God was showing off.

Actually, God was showing Job off. Like any parent who was proud of their child's accomplishments. Like any parent who wanted to tell anyone who would listen. You know the kind of parent; they especially want to show off if they think it'll impress the other person.

If you are a parent, you understand this concept very well. What parent could pass up a perfect opportunity to show off how proud they were of their child?

And, just like most children who don't understand what their parents are doing, Job was confused and didn't understand why God would do this to him. He was a good man. Even so, God picked Job to be tested.

So where does that leave us in our current time? And, how does this fit in with my thinking Job and I were separated at birth? Well, let me tell you that God must be so proud me. That has to be the reason why my life has gone the way it has. Otherwise, what I learned about Job doesn't matter. And I don't believe that. I believe that God loves me and is proud of me.

I believe that it's absolutely true that bad things happen to good people. I also believe that God never gives you more than He thinks you can handle.

I just never realized I could handle so much in my life at one time.

He sure showed me.

Too bad I wasn't looking when he was showing me. It would have made things so much easier. But, then, this isn't about making things easy, is it?

Was it coincidence that I learned, almost too late, that I should have been focusing on my faith in God to set a path for me to follow?

I don't think so. I think, like Job, I had to experience all that I did to become the person I am now.

But, you'd think that I would have paid more attention to His path, rather than wandering so senselessly and blindly on my own. The signs were all there. Strange how they look so much clearer from behind than when faced with them.

Would I have still marched to the brink of sanity and looked in wonder over the edge and beyond? And, if I hadn't, would I still be the same person I am today? All good questions.

They, (you know who "they" are), say that hindsight is 20/20. I believe that. Would I have done anything differently if I had known the outcome? I don't think so. But, then, would any of these events have even happened if I had the foresight to know the consequences of my actions?

Now, there is a question for the ages. Would I still have willingly endured the pain and suffering? Probably. Wait, no probably about it. The answer is a resounding yes. Even if I had to go through all the pain again.

Pain is one of those emotions that help us focus our attention on God. How many of us have ever cried out, "Oh, God, just make it stop hurting!" I can't remember the number of times I have cried those exact words.

Pain gets our attention real fast. It got Job's attention. And it got mine.

Eventually.

Unfortunately, I have a really high threshold for pain.

Pain makes us look inside ourselves. Most of the time, whether we want to or not. We've been brought up in a world that uses pain as a punishment. As children, we constantly heard, "Don't do that or I'll spank you." As parents, we used the same techniques to invoke obedience in our children. How many times have we said, "I love you so much it hurts." Or, how about this, "It pains me to tell you this, but . . ." We use pain all the time to emphasize our actions.

However, pain can be a useful tool for something else. It doesn't always have to be punitive or corrective. Sometimes, like in Job's case, and in mine, it can be used to instruct.

Learning our lesson the "hard way" is, in my humble opinion, the best way to be taught. I always thought I was a really good student.

So much for what I thought I knew.

The lesson that I needed to learn was that God created human beings with a free will. And, because of that free will, God wasn't going to raise His mighty hand and smote every single person down who did wrong. Not even if I was right there to point every single one of them out to Him.

I couldn’t call upon Him to give the driver who just cut me off on the freeway a flat tire. The same as I couldn’t ask Him to seek out the murderer of the child down the street and make him pay for his evil action.

And, no matter how hard I begged, He wasn't going to strike my ex-husband down dead in his tracks for being a knucklehead and not accepting the fact that I was right.

True justice requires patience. A lot of patience.

Although the wait for justice might seem unbearable, God one day will restore those who have suffered without cause. He promised. Solomon said, "God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." (Eccl. 12:14)

It wasn't my job to make sure that all the evil of the world was recognized and punished. My heart carried so much resentment and self-pity, that I wasn't able to see the good that I had in my life. I wasn't able to see the good I would have in the future. I just wasn't able to see the good in the real me.

I had always considered myself a conscientious person. Like Job, I felt that I was ethical, feared God, and avoided evil. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I knew that there was a reason I was born and a purpose for my being put here on earth.

Although, for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. And, nothing used to trouble me more than not being able to figure something out.

I was brought up as a Christian. A good little girl. Painfully shy, overweight, and acne-prone, I was an honor roll student in school and sang in the choir every Sunday. I kept to myself most of the time, avoiding confrontations and existing on the outer edge of life. Sound familiar?

I tried to fade into the background as much as possible. It made my childhood easier. It made my whole life easier. It made it easier to forget about the series of broken marriages with a nearly endless parade of stepmothers, stepfathers, stepsisters and half-sisters, stepbrothers and half-brothers. All of those wonderful events captured in single moments in my mind just like the faded pictures in my photo albums.

My photo albums. Only the happy moments are captured in those pictures. No one ever saw the other side of my life. There is no photo album that you can turn the pages and see the pictures I have in my mind for those times. Those pictures I refuse to bring out to show my friends. My family. Myself. The ones that showed the other side of our supposedly happy, typically dysfunctional home, filled with alcohol abuse, physical and mental abuse, and incest. That was the home I wasn't supposed to talk about. There are no real pictures of those moments. Only the pictures in my mind.

Appalling pictures. Ones that I wish I could destroy as easily as setting a match to a piece of paper. I'd do it if I could. I would put the match to the edge of the picture; watch the flame lick hungrily at the paper. I'd smile when the picture darkened; the edges curled in toward the heat. I'd hold the picture between my fingers for as long as possible, watching the flame devour the moment. Watch the moment go black, like the charred paper, and then flutter away as ashes. To never be remembered again.

The pictures in my mind won't burn.

I keep those pictures locked in a box in the back recesses of my memories. I try not to think about them or remember that they're there. I pile other clutter on top of the box. Pushing and shoving it further and further in the back of my mind, like hiding a box filled with items you just can't throw out in the back of a dark closet. Trying to forget. Trying.

I've done a lot to put physical space and time between those memories and me. But, every where I go, no matter what place I end up in, somehow, when I least expect it, I'll realize that little box has found me. Again.

That little box isn't so little anymore and it's found friends. It's multiplied and grown, to include boxes from other parts of my life. Boxes of memories from failed relationships. Boxes of failed parenting tactics. Boxes of failures.

However, as I've grown in spirit and mind an amazing thing has happened. Other boxes have accumulated that contain good memories. Boxes of accomplishments. A wonderfully, supportive marriage. Good parenting decisions. Outstanding professional achievements. Happy memories with my children and my friends. 

So, now I welcome that little box and all its friends. I don't often look inside, but instead I continue to add other boxes to the collection. In these boxes I've placed all my memories. Some good, some not so good.

But, all of them together make up whom I am. And who I am is the person God wants me to be. At least, I hope so, anyway.

Like Job, I no longer curse the day I was born. I don't demand that God tell me why I must go through what I have and will continue to experience in the future.

Now, I ask Him to be with me as I travel from day to day and provide me with guidance and wisdom to know Him.

I am content in knowing that I don't need an answer for every question right now. I understand that there isn't always going to be a reason that makes sense. Only the knowledge that there are answers and maybe in time, I will discover them. And, if I don't, then I have to trust God enough to understand that He knows.

That is enough for me. I am truly blessed.

And, in return, my promise to God is that I will try to listen more and complain less so that I can hear His gentle prompts and be prepared to let go of what I can't control.

I welcome God's tests because I know that He is proud of me and wants to show others how proud He is of me.

And, like Job did, I too look forward to living a full life, albeit not an easy life, and dying very old. An old woman surrounded by my children and their children and their children.