Member-only story
The Problem with Overlooking Yourself for Others
I rolled over on the concrete floor where I had been sleeping, the thin bedroll doing nothing to lessen the ache in my hips. It sounds like I was being held against my will, but the truth is I was in my office at work — overworked, exhausted, and neglecting myself for a job that would never really care about me.
That was two jobs and a lifetime ago when I let myself be so overworked that I spent 15 to 20 hours a day on the job for more than 15 weeks. I wasn’t saving lives or fighting for a noble cause — I worked for a fluid power distributor. My tasks? Reconcile the company’s entire inventory and implement a new IT infrastructure. By day, I counted inventory and barcoded shelves. By night, I worked alone on data conversion for the new software.
When we finally hired a system administrator, my workload dropped to only 80 hours a week, which felt like a relief.
One night, after working until 2 a.m., I collapsed into my hotel bed for three hours of sleep before starting a 180-mile drive home. Running on two energy drinks, I made it, but by the time I arrived, I was shaking uncontrollably. Shortly after that, I learned that consuming 40 ounces of energy drink poison and sitting still for hours can be lethal.
I was lucky. But not everyone is. Many of us sacrifice our health and well-being…
