We are living in the age of technology. The modern world has advanced at such a rapid rate that many diseases once thought lethal are being dealt with without much problems. Sure, Covid-19 came up out of nowhere and showed its ugly face, but before a year had passed, scientists had begun trial on vaccines meant to disable the virus. It is almost as if the world at present has every kind of solution to all kinds of problems that may assail it. We have not been able to gain the upper hand over circumstances overnight. Moreover, it has not been an easy task to advance in huge leaps and strides. A lot of efforts, failures, studies and experimentation have contributed to such progress.
However, there has been a price that people have had to pay. In the course of moving ahead, most people have left their personal lives in shambles. Their private lives are just a major debacle inversely comparable to the great heights achieved by modernity. At this rate, any further progress would be made at the cost of the lives of these very people. But how can that be allowed to happen? After all, are not all kinds of progress to be enjoyed by the people? If sane people are not left then what is the point of all the advancements in the world?
This would invariably lead all of you to question: What is it that makes people lose their sanity? The problem lies in the fact that our work and the society we live in has become so demanding by virtue of the need to make progress every single day that they have completely forgotten about mental health issues. On top of that is the fact that individuals are expected to perform well under all circumstances; in other words, human beings are regarded as machines and it is an unwritten rule that everyone will work like machines until the day is over.
The rising demands of the day normalize working extra hours and penalize the need for holidays. All of it needs to have a suitable vent. No matter how much a person tries to suppress his needs, it will always find a way to express itself through his mannerisms. The easiest vent available for the unthinkable pressure is the domain of relationships. We tend to spew our frustrations, anger and sadness with everything in our professional lives at our relationships and personal lives. We end up hurting the people closest to us; we take them for granted and consciously forget that they might need our assistance to survive. We keep forgetting that man does not live by bread alone; there needs to be love, care and respect for each other if we are at all interested to make it to a better tomorrow.
The most advisable thing to do would be to take breaks whenever it is needed. If you don’t want to work on a particular day after a long and tiring month then take a day off; if you don’t feel so good and want to take some time off then tell your employer that you are not feeling good and wish to take a day off. Moreover, if your boss or manager is being rude to you then let that person know that you won’t stand for it! Do anything and everything that is necessary to ensure that you are in good spirits. However, in your constant efforts in feeling good, do not end up hurting someone else. You know pain well enough to realize that it should never have to be endured by someone else.
You can take up a hobby that takes your mind off your daily chores for some time. You can go for gardening, enroll yourself as a social worker in some NGO, you can even buy the pet you have always wanted to have and you can even start painting or drawing as you have always wanted to in your younger days. Always remember that all the good things in life need not wait till the time you are 65. There is no point in waiting till the time you are that old. How can you be so sure that you will certainly live till that age?
Taking care of the self should be the first priority for any individual. Always remember that all advancements would mean nothing if you have to end up being the price that society has to pay in order to move forward. The world would be a much better place if everyone inhabiting it could understand these simple rules of life.
Instead of blindly chasing success and money, it will be more fruitful to desire mental and physical health. After all, you can always earn a good life tomorrow if you are healthy today.
Written By Taryn Rodrigues
Week 10, March 2021
