The Dangers Of Doing Too Much

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Most of us are raised believing that we can (and should) always be doing more. We view resting as slacking off, we’re constantly aware of everything else that needs to get done, and we feel bad when we do what we perceive is too little. However, this mindset opens the door to overworking, overdoing, and overexerting ourselves, which has a whole lot of negative consequences of its own.

Let’s look at some of the signs of overdoing it, what the dangers of this practice are, and how you can remedy it.

SEE ALSO: How To Unblock Your Abundance

Signs you are overdoing it

When your schedule is jam-packed and when you really can’t get to everything you’ve set out for yourself, you usually fall into one or more of the following habits:

• You stop exercising – which in turn causes you to have less energy and start feeling more tired.
• You start making unhealthy food choices – which can also lead to sluggishness, weight gain, and even cause some health struggles.
• You start sleeping less – when you are overworked and also not sleeping enough, you not only feel much more tired, your performance starts to suffer.
• You are running late – which also makes you feel inadequate and a bit like a failure.
• You get into more arguments – your relationships with your family and friends are more strained, meaning you are also in a worse mood and feeling guilty about it.
• You feel unhappy, stressed, worried, and/or anxious – everything you have piled on to your plate starts to chip away at your mood and contentment, and you don’t feel at all well any more.

The dangers of overdoing it

Considering everything we’ve just covered, it’s clear that overworking yourself leads to a whole host of negative consequences.

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First of all, your health will begin to suffer as a result of poor diet, a lack of sleep, and a lack of exercise. You may not even feel it, or you may just feel tired and write that off as the consequence of your long hours, but chronic fatigue and sleep deprivation can lead to problems like diabetes, heart conditions, high blood pressure, perhaps even cancer.

In your tired state, you will also be jeopardizing some of your relationships, as not everyone will have the patience to deal with your cranky and moody self. This will only add more fuel to the fire, and you won’t have an easy time of crawling out of that vicious cycle. Ultimately, you will lose a lot of life’s joy, which is itself dangerous enough – what is the point of doing all of that when you don’t even feel happy or content afterward?

How to stop doing too much

In order to stop overdoing it and start getting back to a more manageable workload, consider implementing some of the following:

• Take breaks – both at work and at home, find the time to rest and not do what you feel you should be doing, and just focus on yourself.
• Learn how to say no – if others are constantly asking for help, or just want to add something else to your pile, teach yourself how to refuse. Don’t think of it as being selfish (it’s not); think of it as taking care of yourself.
• Ask for help when you need it – when you are in the throes of overworking yourself, you often don’t see a way out. Ask someone to pitch in, whether it be at work, at home, or just by running an errand for you.
• Manage your expectations – even though we are told we can do it all, ask yourself whether you really need to be doing it. Re-evaluate your goals and your aspirations in life, and try to limit the number of things you do that are not contributing to those goals.
• Learn how to cut yourself some slack – when we go from overdoing it to doing less, it often comes with a feeling of not being enough. Teach yourself how to combat this feeling, and know that you are not failing if you go from 100 to 80 – full speed can only be sustained for so long, after which you need to stop, recuperate, and regroup.

To sum it up

Overdoing it can lead to all kinds of challenges and even some very serious issues that can harm your quality of life. Recognize when you are doing too much before it’s too late, and pace yourself better. After all, all of life is a marathon and not a sprint.

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