Why we can’t stop rushing
Racing to catch a train recently, I tripped on the stairs to the platform, I grabbed the arm of an unsuspecting and rightfully alarmed fellow passenger. I sustained a scraped knee and a bruised thigh. These injuries were, I told myself, well deserved. I’d disregarded one of my precepts for personal happiness, the one that stipulates, “Most misery is caused by rushing.”
My fall was a reminder our culture rewards hustle but isn’t always a desireable result. Since my fall, I’ve been trying to notice when I’m rushing, physically and psychologically. “Where are you going?” I ask myself. “And why are you in such a hurry?” Hopefully that pause puts a little space and with any luck, avert future misery. But there was also all the incidental unhappiness I’d incurred and inflicted in the lead-up: I’d been rushing to get out of the house, which put me in a foul mood.
We rush because we’re late. We also rush because we want to move quickly away from discomfort. We rush to come up with solutions to problems that would benefit from more sustained consideration.
Source: Melissa Kirsch
Supporting adult children
More than 90% of Canadian parents provide financial support for their adult children according to a recent survey with 3 out of 10 concerned about how that support may affect their retirement.
While helping our kids is a personal decision, it’s important to consider several factors, depending on the type of support you are offering. Covering education expenses, housing, debt reduction and living expenses all have the potential to set you back with your own financial obligations. Aside from reducing your retirement savings other impacts include having to delay your retirement, being forced to live frugally, take fewer vacations and foregoing essential medical or long-term care costs. These may have a negative impact on your mental health and put pressure on family dynamics.
Experts suggest creating financial boundaries and setting limits around what you are willing and able to support. Encouraging financial independence, sharing household expenses and chores and working to build your adults money management skills will help change your role from provider to coach. These actions will also go a long way towards safeguarding your own financial stability and retirement plans.
Source: Canada Life
Being organized
When do you feel you’re calmest and most at home? Surrounded by piles of dirty clothes, tumbling stacks of Tupperware, and last month’s mail spread across your desk? Or… when you’re looking at a freshly made bed, clean kitchen, and organized workspace? Only one of those images should have spiked your Cortisol and it’s not the second one!
It’s no surprise that our surroundings have a huge effect on our mental state. Feelings of anxiety, overwhelm, and hopelessness can often be linked directly to our surroundings. For example, it’s easy for us to convince ourselves that work is piling up and has become unbearable when we allow our physical surroundings to pile up and become overwhelming.
Home is where we’re meant to feel our most comfortable and relaxed, but that can become nearly impossible if we’re surrounded by a sea of misplaced items and/or trash. Clutter is a proven stressor and makes it hard to relax, enjoy your home, or be productive when you need to be. When you remove the mess from sight and know that things are in their place, you’re less likely to be overwhelmed or anxious in your own spaces.
Source: National Geographic
