Most of you, having to balance full-time work and family responsibilities are “over-functioning”. You are doing more than what is needed and more than what is healthy. In today’s era, Over-functioning has become an obsessive-compulsive disorder affecting the society at large.
Lifestyle needs and maintaining a social image has made it really hard for individuals to be content with who they are, what they do and what they don’t do. Everyone follows the typical idea of having more of everything, no matter what it is- money, power, status, fame, and attention. This never-ending urge of having more and better creates a false urgency of functioning to the point of exhaustion in order to feel productive.
Your weekdays are full of work and the unending quest for money and other needs. While weekends are spent trying to fit in family obligations and home upkeep. Emails, meetings, clients, investments, insurance, social commitments, family, lifestyle maintenance, etc., occupy a major portion of your days. There is so much on your plate, that you got no alternative but to function beyond the point of normality to match up with the life chores and augmented needs of modern lifestyle.
When you over-function, you exploit your mind and body and become restless and agitated. You become a messy person who is never short of errands. Hold on for a moment and think- Are you doing too much to get something you really need or is it just a compulsive behavior triggered by social conditioning that drives you?
“A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.” — Albert Einstein
Think about these questions honestly and you will get an idea of what is it that you have been doing wrong?
- Are you driven by someone else’s idea of how life and work ‘should’ be and what happiness and success means?
- Do you have the tendency to compare yourself with others and feel lousy after the comparison?
- Is every trivial thing in your life a top, urgent priority for you?
- Do you find it hard asking for any kind of help, thinking it is a sign of weakness and you would rather do everything by yourself?
Chew over these questions and you will understand that you don’t really have any rationale behind over-functioning. General perception of recklessly working individuals tell you that lots of money, possessions and power is what success is and now you are just exhausting your mind and body to reach the goal post which keeps moving farther away.
Ask yourself- where is this leading you? Is this what you want? Why are other people defining what is what to you? What prevents you from going after something that gives you a better sense of purpose in life?
There is no need for you to function tirelessly just because society says so. You are the best “you” and you’re missing nothing without overfunctioning. There are an amazing array of little happiness giving stuff all around you which you are missing in your hustle. You pass through your life as if happiness will come after this last one task? It soon gets into a recursive spiral loop with no end in sign. Most of the stuff that you gain is superfluous and just a fancied aspiration sold to you by some marketing geeks in your younger years.
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds”- Marcus Garvey
Wise men are not carried away by this societal conditioning of sweating it out like a dog, day in, day out. They are not driven by the fear of losing out in the senseless competition among the human race. They are happy with who they are and what they do. A person doing just what is needed and using the rest of his time and energy to capitalize on the true sense of life is always better off than those who slog.
You are doing too much because you don’t have a sense of life and a purpose. When you equip yourself with the right human wisdom, you start to pursue your real endeavors. Also, the way you conduct your life changes dramatically. Let’s delve into the most profound human wisdom I want to share with you:
Hope this helps you understand reality and yourself a little better and makes a difference in your life from this very moment.
