I have recently returned to full-time nursing work and I am loving it. It’s been some time since I have worked full-time, and really, I never thought I would do it… ever again.
About 3 years into my nursing career I was finding it all a bit overwhelming so I began to cut my hours down. Over the years this drizzled down to only a few shifts a fortnight and even then I still thought that it was too much.
But I had to pay the bills, so I worked only as much as I had to: the result being that I financially struggled through life. But I was willing to put up with that, so long as I didn’t have to work too much.
Nursing, I believed, should only ever be part-time work, especially for those of us who worked shift work. I thought that I could reduce the toll on my body caring for sick people at all hours if I only worked part-time – I would reduce my chances of becoming overrun by the increasing stressors of work.
What I found was that no matter how many hours I worked I would still feel overrun by work stress.
I was not escaping it, no matter how little I worked: and because I wasn’t escaping it I needed larger amounts of time away from work. Even when I did have a week off work, I would be back feeling like I needed another week off during my first shift back. I’d notice this after having holidays too. Almost the moment I got back, I no longer felt like I had just had a break.
I did have a brief stint of full-time work about 10 years ago, but was constantly tired – I didn’t want to be there and I was allowing myself to be affected by what was going on in the workplace.
This lasted about 12 months before I began to reduce my hours again.
Having worked with many nurses over the years, I know that what I was feeling is a common experience amongst other nurses. It is common for a nurse to reduce his or her hours the longer they spend in nursing, unless they couldn’t due to financial reasons.
Even if they ‘have to’ work longer hours, there is very often the desire to reduce the amount of hours that are worked and often they long for that day, or long for retirement.
Over the last 5 years, with the support of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, I have been gradually increasing not only my hours of work, but my level of responsibility.
Over the last 12 months I could feel that I was ready to go back to full-time work. As I sat with this I could feel how important it was to acknowledge and appreciate myself, the choices I am now making and how the way I care and nurture myself has supported me in such a way that I am now back in full-time work again, and I’m loving it.
What I was feeling and observing in my body was key to the choices I was making. These examples stood out initially as I was learning to listen and take note of what my body was saying.
I always felt particularly exhausted after working a morning shift. I would get home and lay on the lounge, fall asleep, wake up for dinner and then fall asleep on the lounge again to wake up and to go to bed.
With this I did two things. I began to go for a walk after work as well as put myself to bed when I felt tired, which was often before 9pm.
The key here is how I went for a walk and how I went to bed. When I walked, I walked in a way that was how my body wanted to walk.
If I felt vital I would walk with more of a pace. If I was feeling tired and tender I would walk with more delicacy. Going to bed began about 6pm when my focus became about winding down from my day and not getting hooked into activities that were too stimulating, such as watching TV.
I also observed that when I watched TV I could easily ignore those tired signals, whereas when I do not watch TV, I more easily check into what my body is saying, and honour it.
This can be challenging when at work, but I just acknowledged what my body was feeling and worked in a way where I did not push myself. Within a short period of time I was no longer tired after work and had plenty of energy to complete my days, even if I was working late.
I also stopped drinking coffee. A while ago I noted that whenever I did not have my daily coffee I had a two or three-day headache, and that was only after one coffee. But I continued to drink coffee as I thought it helped me get through my shifts, especially nightshift.
I began to wonder, that if coffee has this effect then it may not be so good for my body. What I found was that coupled with the above changes, I actually didn’t need coffee (or tea for that matter) to keep me awake or get me through a shift, and that my energy levels were consistent through my day, whatever shift I was working.
There was no perfection, as I did feel tired at times late in the evening or whenever I was on night shift.
Through this I have learnt (and am still learning) that my body is a wonderful teacher. It really does tell me everything I need to know and understand about how I am living, the choices that I am making, and that I can always make new choices that are more caring and supportive for myself and my body.
I am relishing the opportunity of being back in full-time work. Admittedly I am now no longer working shift work, but this was never about not working shift work for I would have still returned to full-time work, shift work or not.
There is definitely going to be a period of adjustment for my body, but I now know how to support and care myself in a way that will definitely support me to remain in full-time work for a long time to come.
I have an immense appreciation for Serge Benhayon and all that he presents and lives, which has been an endless source of inspiration to me.
What I have learned and observed I have been able to apply to my own life.
By Jennifer Smith, Registered Nurse, Australia
Further Reading:
Why work? What is work about?
Working for God not Self
Breaking the Consciousness of Working as a Cleaner
Work is medicine
Words on Serge Benhayon 
Just recently I saw a few posters along a hospital corridor that said ‘Reduce long hours!’ ‘Employ more nurses!’ that were obviously put up by their union. The message was clear that the system does not support the nurses, and I agree, but reading your sharing, how empowering it would be if they knew there was something they could do also to support themselves to enjoy being in a profession that they have chosen to dedicate themselves.
It is gorgeous to hear how your walked according to how you felt .., feeling vital walked with more of a pace, feeling tired would walk with more delicacy. This alone is so super supportive.
Thank you Jennifer, this is very inspiring for both work and study. We know full time work or study can place a tremendous strain on the body however your insights about honouring the body and bringing more care to your daily living has supported you to be fit for life. It’s amazing really because we tend to think of strengthening the body coming from exercise and weight training. But the simple changes you have made have definitely strengthened your body in many ways. Conversely the lack of care and attentiveness to our bodies that we live with must also correlate to our ill health and general weakness.
There is what is called fitness for work – and so it is about ensuring that the body is fit to do the tasks it is given. I recall shifting from one type of work to another and though both jobs were very physically demanding, they were demanding in different ways and so I had to allow a time period for my body to adjust and strengthen to the new job. This took me about 6 months, and in that time I needed to sleep and rest more but also refine how I ate as well as how I prepared myself for work etc. It was a fantastic learning experience – and the best way to learn which is On the job!
It is interesting how cutting down on work can feel like we are still working too much! I see this also in people who retire – upon retiring, they find their days so busy with the every day stuff that they struggle to fit in anything extra around this or find it exhausting to have to do anything more. They often say ‘I don’t know how we fitted in work before, as there seems so much endless things to do’ – but this is the trick, what can happen when we drop a rhythm and focus that actually supports us in life (and work can often be the thing that helps develop and maintain that focus and rhythm). And then there is the lack of purpose too…
Our movements dictate how we fare, not the amount of hours we work.
Ah, this is the key aspect Eduardo – how we are in what we do determines the quality that we put out and hence how we feel at the end of the day. Movement is the key factor – how are we moving our body? In a way that allows the flow or in a controlled way that forces the body and hence feels the jarring effects?
When we don’t prepare and care for our body, it won’t be ready and fit for what is next.
Drinking coffee to help you through your shift is a pattern many people are using to help themselves get through the day, I also used to drink coffee at work too, first thing in the morning it was like a staff ritual, however I found that it made me feel more tired once the initial hit wore off, so I stoped drinking it altogether.
We get exhausted from how we are after work and before work because those choices actually set us up for how we are able to work, and feeling exhausted through work seems to be an epidemic, as you have said not checking out in front of the TV and going to bed early has really helped to support your body.
A nurse nurturing and caring for herself is an inspiration to all around them, staff and patients, to take responsibility for how they too care for themselves.
When we deeply self-nurture and have a loving care for our body our level of care for others will be of a different quality, that said the responsibility we have is so much more than we have been taught. With this awareness I have committed to fulltime work as a nurse and I love having this commitment as it brings a purpose and focus in my life. My body needed to adjust but by doing daily gentle exercises and connective tissue exercises this is naturally occurring without much effort.
Our bodies are our greatest teachers and often it’s not what we do but how we are in what we do and how we approach it, and if we allow our bodies to guide us, it opens up a whole other way to be with what we do on a daily basis.
Recently I have also increased my hours at work to full time from part-time, and I have noticed I am more focused, more vital and all the other things I need to do in my day get done effortless. Working is good medicine as it gives us routine and structure to our day, not forgetting the social contact; meeting and connecting with people.
This is a very inspirational blog Jennifer, there is so much in it, so much you have changed, with you making the choice to make those changes, and just shows how when we are ready, we can make the necessary changes our bodies are asking us to make – we just have to listen.
It was the headaches that did it for me too when drinking coffee. I realised how my body was strained, in tension and how I was having withdrawals and the headaches would just disappear if I succumb. Nine times out of ten the pull to just have a coffee to ‘give me’ some energy and to get rid of any headache seemed to be the easiest option.Not anymore, feeling so still and energised I can’t ask my body to go all through that again, it’s a viscous cycle.
There is a lot to learn from your story Jennifer as many people would struggle with tiredness and wonder how they could feel more vital throughout the day. And then there is absenteeism and illness affecting productivity in employment worldwide, as well factors such as feeling disengaged or tired at work. What you have shared is very practical and accessible to everyone – simply listen to and honour the body.
Yes, the same is true for me in my late 50s.
It is amazing that there is a whole profession where many people all want to work fewer hours. That sounds like an indictment of those who design the work environment.
I am feeling it is safe to say working is a great medicine because there is always purpose in whatever job it is we are doing. Consistent work offers ourselves, structure, routine, being organised and the daily connection we have with others, not forgetting the financial rewards that allows us to pay our way.
In the past few months I have been cruising at work, and having a lot of free days. But since I have upped my days and doing more, I feel I am more focused, and get more done, and have more energy by working more.
It’s an amazing realisation because growing up there was a strong attitude that not working and goofing off was the way to truly enjoy life but the more I commit to work the more I build strength in myself and my focus and my vitality is better (provided I am not in drive and care for myself throughout the work day).
After reading your blog Jen I cannot but wonder could the quality of how we do everything be the answer to our plague of exhaustion that shadows us all.
That is impressive Elizabeth to be working longer hours in your seventies than you were in your fifties! What feels key in your sharing is your self-love, with love all is possible.
I agree our bodies are wonderful teachers, and they speak loudly and clear in so many ways, it is always our choice whether to listen or not. I have learned to listen and honour my body, and have made many adjustments and refinements to how I live work, and relate to others. My awareness has increased and my ability to read life and situations supports me in knowing what is needed, and keeping life super simple.
Yes and from there you realize that we are actually made to work and that there is nothing wrong with working hard and long hours is we take care of our body.
Often people use this ‘cutting down on hours’ technique as a solution for their lack of self-care and not realizing how much they can change their behavior and go to the root cause of their exhaustion.
‘I walked in a way that was how my body wanted to walk.’ and that’s such an important sentence for often we do things in a way we feel we should do them rather than what our body suggests at that time … it’s such a simple but very tangible way to see what honouring our body is about.
I find that the more we are consistent with our lives – the more we are in rhythm and not in peaks and troughs – the more energy we naturally have. I have loved experimenting with this and discovering that caffeine doesn’t need to have a place if we have this sort of relationship with how we are.
Yes the current way of thinking is that when we are tired we have to do less. The thing is that we don’t stop and ask ourselves ‘what of the way we are working is making me tired?’, if we ask this and are honest there are many more factors that are contributing to how we are feeling at work than just the work itself!
” I am relishing the opportunity of being back in full-time work ”
Is it not amazing that once we commit oneself to life how enjoyable it is to be alive.
The walk that you point out is interesting, I can feel some mornings I go for a walk but I am already in my day, consumed by it and thinking about what I need to do and in this I am not with myself, my mind is already at work. The times where I go for a walk and enjoy the moment I find on those days I am much more steady for the day.
Such a beautiful blog Jennifer. I have gone through a similar process, though I had just retired when I came across the presentations of Serge Benhayon. Needless to say I have come back to work – not exactly the same work, though related. My work has been slightly part-time in retirement years and I have been enjoying the space to do some voluntary work in writing, editing and proofing, but now that that activity too has turned into a business and more and more work is coming I am having a bit of a ‘put the breaks’ on happening, because I want to make sure I still have a bit of space – but of course this is looking at the whole thing upside-down, because if I am connected with myself and living harmoniously, the space will be there no matter what.
In really taking care of ourselves which the body appreciates in the most simple of ways, like giving up coffee and stimulants, going to bed when we are tired, changing our diet according to our bodies communication ( when we don’t over-ride it), of course our energy levels will increase which means we can handle more responsibility, and thus we can handle more love in our lives which can be felt in how simple our lives become.
What a gem to read for anyone who works, and especially seeing that whatever job we have our body will always know how to do it in a way that is not to its detriment. We only need to listen, take note and follow through.
It is so common for us to feel resigned to our circumstances and think that there’s nothing we can do to change. It takes much honesty and humbleness to allow ourselves to even consider another way of living as a real possibility, and actually taking steps to make it a reality. This is a truly inspiring sharing. Thank you, Jennifer.
It is wonderful to work for as long as one possibly can – just amazing to be able to serve others and transform the work-place through a loving reflection. I cannot imagine being retired.
It is super important, that we adjust our body with our lifestyle choices, when we feel, that work is overwhelming us. Most of the people would just check out more, withdraw, push themselves ( including foods and substances that seemingly give energy). I love the feeling, that we in fact don´t need anything from the outside to work really hard. Because we are made to work.
Sometimes I complain about all the things I have to do – it’s never ending. But really, there is no complaint – it is far preferable to the days when I chose to have nothing to do.
For me it is more challenging as well, when there is nothing on my agenda. Even resting requires a focus for me and I can feel right away, when this focus slightly slips. I love connecting to my purpose in life for service, as it gives me the foundation and clearity – it constantly confirms me in my qualities, which supports me in expanding of who I am. I love it 🙂
“I am relishing the opportunity of being back in full-time work” I love this line as it comes straight from the heart and is a truth that is felt in the body while all the struggling and hesitation to work comes from the mind and in that way has its detrimental effect on our body and mental state. Our bodies really love to work and when we appreciate that we come alive again and make return the natural vibrancy we ought to live.
I am always amazed at how rejuvenating and revitalising just a simple walk can be.
Absolutely, I do check in by now, if it needs a nap or a walk, when I feel a bit tired. A connected walk is super rejuvenating and supporting the being through the bodymovements connecting to its quality and purpose.
Shift work is a challenge if we do not listen to our body, as our body knows how to do shift work. On the other hand, if we honour our body, respect it and cherish its messages then shift work is easy.
What a gift you are offering to others that do shift work or simply work in demanding roles and conditions. Running my own business and having a very large family to take care of after a long day at work means that I basically never have time to have a walk or a moment to myself, which used to really bother me. I have found that my best days now, at work and home is when I do not see things as having an end point, as when I get attached to thinking I have a moment, like a walk or a rest, I miss out on the fact that I have moments, every moment. Now I am just bringing my focus to having fun and rest while I am tending to the kids instead of driving them through to get to the end. I always feel like I have heaps of energy, even after 14 hours on my feet, amazing really.
Thanks Sarah, this was great to read, it’s so true we can be aiming for a future moment all day like the chance to rest or have fun later on when we can be present and having fun now by bringing the fullness of ourselves in every moment.
I have worked shift work for many years now and I used to be addicted to coffee as I felt it was the only way for me to function with the level of tiredness I would feel, and then one day I got sick of the shaky hands and racy feeling in my body from the caffeine and I decided to give it up, I never touched it again and my energy levels and sleep patterns improved considerably.
The beautiful sense of purpose that goes hand in hand with daily work is a complete joy.
Thank you Jennifer for exposing how trying to control the outer environment will not help us with stress. Stress is an internal response to what is happening within us and around us therefore no amount of trying to control the external environment will help if we are not dealing with our internal response to what is going on.
I am enjoying working more than I ever used to. Its still something I am refining, but where as I used to think the job was the problem, increasingly I am finding it’s my attitude to work and the way I am working that causes the drain and the stress.
Beautiful and inspiring to read how you have built a very supportive foundation for yourself and how you have changed the relationship with your work. Recently I have been neglecting the signals my body was giving me and loyalty has prevailed over what I felt in my body, still recovering from that and allowing space in what is next.
Quality in which we move through our days really does support us not only in that moment but all well after the movement has been made and this is significant to note. Listening and observing our bodies in all that we do, gives us much to learn and appreciate about how we live and how we can continue to deepen the relationship for many more years to come.
Something that I am pondering on at the moment since writing this is I may still have the occasional day where I feel tired, or something at work has thrown me a curve ball, but I however am remaining very steady and deeply committed to doing the best I can, with as much honesty as I can. I work in an area of high emotion and I have to admit that sometimes I do take that on, but I note it pretty quickly these days. But it’s super interesting to still be thriving, enjoying very much every detail of my work, even though some things may bring frustration, but my commitment does not waver and I certainly would not want to be anywhere else (this is huge).
This really highlights the foundation and I have built on and deepened over the last few years. Something to deeply appreciate for myself.
You are very inspiring- I love reading this as it inspires me to look at the changes that I can be making as I notice that I am still feeling quite tired at the end of my working day and week. I know that I need to bring more awareness to taking care of me in the day and this will increase my work quality.
‘The key here is how I went for a walk and how I went to bed. When I walked, I walked in a way that was how my body wanted to walk.’ How lovely to surrender to our bodies, honouring them and appreciating what an incredible job they do for us and feeling the natural movements that lie under the controlled ones we have lived with for so long. Lovingly putting ourselves to bed honours the night time process of clearing and rebuilding for the next day- like wise in the morning, lovingly getting up and preparing for the day.
Serge Benhayon has shared and shown that by listening to and taking true care of our body we can work with purpose without exhaustion but when our mind and thoughts are in control exhaustion can set in no matter how little physical work we are doing.
A great sharing on the importance of listening to our bodies, and to also look at the quality we are choosing first and foremost. The fact is, if we are getting tired, why? How are we moving in a way to allow this rather than blaming the thing we are doing.
How wonderful is this writing and the glory of you being back at work and the benefits for all the patients and work colleagues you meet, just awesome. `thank you for sharing.
Life offers us many situations that make clear that the problem is our movements and not the amount of times we repeat them. The latter though, allows us to feel the quality we are moving in, so we can change it if wished.
It is understandable why people resent working when they have not been supported to care for themselves, because exhaustion kicks in and that makes work no fun at all. When we change the quality we work in there is no longer exhaustion but more vitality the more we work (believe it or not!)…this is a game changer.
Being connected with your bodies, rather than going into the stimulation that is so prevalent and deemed as normal offers a humongous difference to our way of being – and our wellbeing. It is what then brings the vitality we yearn for – and we realise that working full time, way beyond the standard 40 hour week, is natural and extremely joyful for a body is connected and nourished.
“There is definitely going to be a period of adjustment for my body, but I now know how to support and care myself in a way that will definitely support me to remain in full-time work for a long time to come.” Beautiful Jennifer. Choosing to stay in the present – and with self-care and loving ourselves we have so much more to offer our community – and for longer….
It is powerful when we can live with true purpose in our lives and understand that we are here to serve others and offer a reflection of trust and inspiration for them to be who they truly are, embracing our jobs with the appreciation of our being-ness is a great opportunity to do this and much more for the good of all. Thank you Jennifer.
Its interesting that we can associate work with stress. The two are different things.. we are built to work and that can be incredibly satisfying either physically or emotionally. Stress is something altogether different – a physiological tension that is unnatural and caused by a mismatch between who we naturally are and what we think the world wants of us.
I like your explanation of what stress is Simon, and true, we often associated the word stress with work, but it doesn’t have to be like that.
It is beautiful to feel how our approach to work can make it absolutely equally to every other aspect of our day. No more and no less.
How many of us in today’s work force are feeling overwhelmed in our chosen profession or life in general so much so that they reduce our hours of work? Too many I am guessing. The question is what are we all going to do about it?
The gorgeous thing I noticed in reading your blog Jennifer is what you have learnt from Serge Benhayon you have applied to your life; I really appreciate your commitment to yourself and life.
Its a weird conundrum – the more I work the easier I find it. There is a fitness to that which builds over time, but more than that it is in finding a way to work that does not drain, but can instead support and fire me up. I can say without hesitation that I love to work, its what this body was built for.
I used to feel as if work were a constant battle between me and my inbox, the perceived source of the constant stress I felt. Working in this way was totally draining, and it’s only when I started to work in a totally different way, focusing much more on the quality of work rather than the to-do list, that the focus became more about the quality that I was in, instead of focusing on something outside of me that I couldn’t control. Just about everything since then has felt better, including my energy levels.
And that’s the key, to apply whatever makes sense to your own life and then feel for yourself if it works. It’s the only way to go….making choices based on lived experience.
We look for ways to fix situations on the outside eg.reducing the hours when it is the choices that we make in every moment that either support us or not which in truth really make the difference to our health and wellbeing.
What you share here Jennifer is very significant. It is not only how we manage our work time, but also and especially how we prepare for it and restore ourselves later. Our day is a continuous cycle in which every part counts and affects others. I feel that by you knowing this and making the essential adjustments you did, is what has facilitated the huge change that you have experienced in your work.
Love this blog Jen. If we listen to our body we don’t need to get exhausted, very simple and yet awesomely revelatory.
I had never quite clicked until I read your blog Jen that by watching TV we can get caught in the emotion of what is being presented which in turn allows us to ‘easily ignore those tired signals’ of when we should go to bed….
Really you should share this story with the nursing training schools etc as what you have shared is pretty much miraculous.
I loved reading the changes and the choices you made in your livingness and how that has supported your ability to work full time. A great realisation that even the smallest of changes can have a significant outcome.
Recently I have been feeling a financial tension, being able to pay my bills but not much else (like building savings). Looking into factors such as if I have any beliefs around being worthy of being supported financially and fears of working too much. All of this has been going on in my head rather than asking my body how it feels to relate to work. Which when I do feel how to be I absolutely love to work and when in this joy I find the support comes my way without even trying.
This is a true testament to how commitment and responsibility can support us to change our lives.
Work is a loaded word, which brings up thoughts of expectations, responsibilities and burdens. Rarely, however, do we associate it with joy.
There is something about how we do what we do that either drains us or not, what you share here is so common and yet it really shouldn’t be. “What I found was that no matter how many hours I worked I would still feel overrun by work stress.” The more we can talk about it and support each other, the better opportunity we have of turning that pattern of behaviour around.
Saying ‘Yes’ to purpose is saying ‘Yes’ to responsibility and this naturally brings about an increase in work. But what is saying ‘Yes’ to purpose? Unless I am taking responsibility for myself and how I am with myself then I would say it is impossible to live with true purpose. My work is also increasing naturally as the developing foundation of taking care of myself unfolds.
We are definitely at our best when we are in full service, committed to life and bringing our all in every moment.
This article offers us an amazing example of how what seems to be very common reactions to work can be completely turned around. The key theme here seems to be responsibility: taking responsibility for how one lives one’s life in total, including the examination of any beliefs or attitudes we might be harbouring that hold us back from expressing and serving in full at work.
If we consider the teaching offered by Serge Benhayon that “Everything is energy so therefore everything is because of energy” and apply this to our working environments. If we have the majority of people being at work and not really wanting to be there, we would rather be at home or doing something that we would do in our spare time (working for our days off), doing the minimum of what is required, rather than what is needed; we have high levels of sick leave; high levels of bullying etc. We can then understand why work almost turns into a dirty word and why sometimes we don’t want to be there. But if the truth is that working hard is very natural and not exhausting at all which has been not only my experience alone, then we need to ask more deeply what going on in how we are choosing to live, for our answers lie there.
“Through this I have learnt (and am still learning) that my body is a wonderful teacher.” Our body is an amazing teacher and one we have the opportunity to connect with and enjoy for our whole lives. Seeing our bodies as a teacher also shows us that life has ups and downs and it is the steadiness and clarity we can feel from our bodies in these times that shows the deep level of intelligence we hold within.
We can all work much more than we think, and rather than draining us, a job can offer enjoyment, and engagement in life.
I love that in the commitment to yourself and ultimately to your work you have also found the enjoyment of such a choice. The nursing industry is blessed to have you reflect to them the way of living and working you do to show them what is possible.
Establishing a self-loving and supporting rhythm of life for oneself is the greatest medicine one can give oneself.
Isn’t it interesting how by cutting your hours right down you still felt the same levels of stress from work and that coming back from holiday the feeling of relief was gone almost the moment you were back at work. I can easily relate to this and what’s been so lovely to observe is that the more I commit to life and the way I approach work the more my life becomes one and the need for holidays is no longer a priority but something which I do simply for a change of scene and to visit family.
Yes, it’s when we override our body’s signals, numb ourselves with food or distract ourselves that we feel drained and exhausted at the end of the day
There is joy and spaciousness when we are committed to our work and committed to purpose.
Working full-time brings purpose and focus, which really supports our body and our being. It is true medicine.
Loving what you do for work and taking responsibility for who you are at work is such a joy; thus being beneficial, purposeful, and expanding for yourself, others and humanity. Thank you Jennifer for sharing your experiences and your wisdom.
It confirms to me how when we are in tune, connected and aware of ourselves how much more energy we have.
Very inspiring. What a piece of gold you have offered everyone, it is a resource that does not cost anything but gives us the opportunity to reap amazing rewards.
So great to read this sharing and observe how we can totally change our approach to work and the purpose of what we do. I used to have thoughts about how it could be so much easier to just find a rich husband and be a housewife one day. And yet here I am – with a toddler and no days off work. And i love it – but it is because I can see and feel the purpose of what I do. So it does not exhaust me it inspired me. That is a massive turn around from the given up attitude I once held.
It is real fun and a delight to live and work with the body in a way that truly supports it, and as you show the true and full potential of our bodies are immense.
The quality with which we do things is so important. The more I learn to ‘be’ me first, before I ‘do’ anything, the more energy I have to complete necessary tasks. We can find purpose in anything we do when we put the innermost as a priority.
One upon a time, not that long ago, I did not want to work. I was always looking for a way to work less (yet I always complained about not having any money!). I now work full time plus and I love it. There is so much there for me to give and I feel purpose strongly. When I was disengaged from work, I was in a huge amount of tension because of it. If we have a lot to give and we hold it back, it can be quite an uncomfortable process.
I can really relate to working part-time hours as this is all I thought I could manage once upon a time. But the truth is that my level of self-care and self-love could only support that amount of work. Things are now changing because I have a new appreciation for myself and how I wish to be in all that I do. Thanks Jennifer.
One of the most self-caring things that I have ever done is to have gone back to full-time work. I know that may sound contradictory but it isn’t. Working full-time is great and really supportive if we learn to look after ourselves while doing it.
It does sound contradictory, but I have to agree with you Elizabeth. We are not exhausted because of our work, how we work and how we are at work absolutely affects us, as does what we take on from others during our day. But even more than this, not living who we are is what is exhausting us to to the bone.
It is pretty amazing to read how simple life-style changes can have such an affect on working life, making it more enjoyable and contributory to the greater whole of life for everyone.
Self-care and self-love really are the cornerstones for life.
You are an inspiration Jen, when I see you, you are glowing and you light up the room. Amazing to hear a bit of your back story and what it was like for you previously and to now know where you are at today- this is very inspiring.
So many people think that if they worked less that life would be wonderful but this is not the case at all. I have found that the more I work the more I genuinely enjoy working and the more that I am able to do. The truth of things is often much different than what we imagine in our heads.
I agree Elizabeth, when I commit to my work the more purpose I am connected to and this brings greater vitality and joy to my life.
Beautiful to read of the supportive changes you made to your lifestyle in order for you to have the energy to return to full time work again. Be great if these were included in a nurse’s training.
We get hurt by our experiences of work and then we seek to escape it, making it all about ourselves rather than the bigger picture and the importance of us being there in full in the first place. This is the main problem in the world with our attitude towards work and life in general.
Re-acquainting ourselves with our body, listening and taking note of what it is communicating gives us a foundation from which to build a much deeper level of care for ourselves which can then support us to be able to care more for others. Thanks for writing about the changes you have made in your life Jennifer and how this has rippled out into changing the way you are at work too.
This is such an inspiring sharing. Thank you, Jennifer. Caring for my body is something I am constantly needing to review and adjust, and what I am finding is that no amount of sleep or what seems to be good, nutritious food can compensate if there is no love in the way I hold and express myself.
It is a great revelation offered here that it is not work that makes us tired. We don’t need to cut back on work, it is the habit of ignoring our body signals and the lack of looking after ourselves we need to change.
I can relate to what you’ve shared here Jennifer, I used to work as little as I could ‘get away with’, and was always pretty tired and drained. These days I work long hours and in some form or another spend the majority of every day doing some sort of work. My energy is better than it’s every been and I am more productive than l’ve ever been. I have since come to understand that we are built to work hard, not physically necessarily, but that idle-ness breeds lethargy, discontent and all manner of undesirable ill-effect.
Stunning. I am so appreciative of the steps you offer here as examples of what you brought into your life in order to bring about that change. If we can bring those small changes in and then work on making them consistent through a dedication and commitment to self-care the potential is enormous for us.
How often is it the things we consider to give us energy or ‘time for ourselves’ or life’s little pleasures that actually rob us of vitality and joy? We only find out when we assess and try something different.
It is so powerful to feel how making a seemingly small change to something in our life can have a huge flow on affect in many areas, such as going to bed when tired and not keeping on going just because that is what we have always done, or because that is what people around us are doing.
Just these days someone shared with me that doing anything that is not about people makes no sense, referring to having some days off and not really knowing what to do with their time besides the opportunity to take care of some chores and practical things. But to engage with hobbies, entertainment etc just to kill time was boring and made not much sense so that person was considering to even get another job or voluntary work. Working full time including taking care of family like parenting makes sense and it is for us to figure out doing it in a way that doesn´t exhaust but energizes us and besides good self-care it is knowing the purpose of why we are doing what we are doing.
I found your blog very inspiring Jennifer to continue listening to my body and deepen my exploration of self care. As you have shown, work does not need to be exhausting, in fact we can still feel vital each day after working full time through our own daily choices to self care.
Serge Benhayon is a constant inspiration to me too Jennifer, from his teachings and presentations I have also gone back to full time work after many years of not working full time and I thoroughly enjoy it.
I love what you shared Jen about our body being a wonderful teacher, the trick is for us all to become a student of its wisdom.
It is remarkable just how potent and sustaining self care is. Self care being connection to our body and responding accordingly, rather than over riding or dismissing those cues, makes ALL the difference to the way we live and respond in our day.
Our body will show us the way if we let it lead.
‘I have learnt (and am still learning) that my body is a wonderful teacher.’ Yes Jennifer, my body tells me everything that I need to know, and learning how to listen to it and not ignore the subtlest messages it gives me, is beautiful to experience.
Developing our relationship with our bodies and quality within allows us to live in a way that work is just another part of our expression where there is less and less identification of self and more purpose for the good of all.
‘What I found was that no matter how many hours I worked I would still feel overrun by work stress’ such an important observation Jennifer – it is not about the hours we work , but the quality we do everything in.
Jennifer, there is a real sense in this blog of the value and the appreciation you have for yourself and for what you can bring to the work place when you are well cared for. This is gorgeous and a beautiful testimony to your commitment to bringing that quality out in to the world, simply because you know that not only are you worth putting the effort in to, but also that everyone who you work with and come in to contact with each day is also worth having the real and gorgeous you presented in front of them.
Most people are in hospital because there is something wrong with the way their body is working. Listening to your body and living in tune and in respect of all it shares with you will be an inspiration to all the patients and fellow workers around you.
One of the subtle and yet oh so significant contributions that Universal Medicine offers to society in general is the opening of people to how to actually work in a way that is, as Jen writes, self-sustaining.
We can connect to a purpose in a job and absolutely love it however if we don’t self care and self love we burn out very quickly.
We are born to work – so we should very well get used to it. Our issue with work is not so much to do with the physicality of what we do, but the impositions we place on ourselves, and allow to be placed on ourselves by others that drains us.
I too feel tired after work and have realised it is the quality in which i am operating in that is impacting this tiredness. I have noticed how i take on things at work or not want to feel or read what is really going on, so I don’t allow myself to feel, by eating things I know aren’t supportive. This all contributes to the feeling tired at the end of the day, but what you are sharing Jennifer is super powerful, connecting to our quality.
I have many memories of feeling tired yet being hooked on a TV show and just saying, ten more minutes, or, I shouldn’t be tired it is still quite early. To set an early bedtime, not as a strict act but as a routine to be in is something I have found really healthy. I choose to ignore convention that says 9pm is too early and head to bed for that time every night. That is a perfect way for me to create more time in the mornings to head to work prepared and not exhausted.
Jennifer your blog is a perfect example of the importance and power of the quality in which we do things as opposed to the quantity.
Love how you chose to really listen to your body’s signals, even initially starting to wind down at 6pm, which many people would have thought ridiculously early. Finding our body’s unique natural rhythm is so important. No comparing with others!
It’s amazing how much energy we are given when we choose to commit to life, and work in full.
It’s interesting to ponder more on the belief about working part time. I have seen some media recently that says people over 40 would be better off working part time. What I find interesting is that we have yet to have the discussion about why we feel we need to work part time and then how are we working, what are we putting our bodies through if we are feeling that and we need the relief of knowing, ” well at least I have the next week off to recover”. What if we can work in a way, where we can actually work more and not need the time off to recover? What if our days off weren’t about needing to recover from work? In working part time its like we are planning our retirement early and want to escape the world.
Jennifer you would think that the governments of the world would be clamouring to get to Serge Benhayon’s door because of the potential for global productivity self care can bring.
A few years ago I was only working 2 days a week and I was always looking for ways to work less. I worked enough so that I could cover my expenses and not go into debt but that was it. I was always wanting a holiday and I didn’t want to work – or so I thought. Fast forward to today where I work most days and love it. I feel so much more fulfilled that when I was avoiding work. Work no longer falls into the category of work but is simply life.
I’ve experienced times where I have been working and wishing for a break, and then the break comes and it actually isn’t all that great. In fact the fun was there as potential in the work, it just needed a different approach, a change to the perspective of what it is we are here for, and what gives our lives meaning.
I suppose what this highlights to me is that there is a quality we can bring to how we work. so you can work 10 hrs or 50 hrs a week, but based on the quality is how your body will respond in that work. I have been playing with this and am fast noticing how it is possible to do more and more hours in the day as long as I stay present and in a quality that nurtures my body. If I am reacting, stressed, under time pressures then I sure do feel it at the end of the day – but there is actually another way to work.
I did something similar back in the 90’s too, reducing my work hours to the bare minimum because I found it so draining. Not until coming across Serge Benhayon & the teachings he presented did I begin to understand why and be able to address it. My story echoes your very much in terms of the things I started looking after in myself and around me. Today I work long hours and do all sorts of extra work as well… and my health and vitality is fantastic by comparison.
Just as you wouldn’t jump in a bath without checking the temperature, so too should we check in with ourselves before jumping into our day – or throughout our day, for that matter. It’s amazing how we can take so much on and ignore how we’re really feeling. Simply going for a short walk, as you explain, is such a great way to take a step back to you and how you’re feeling. It’s only then that we can make the most supportive decisions for ourselves.
I used to hate working on shifts even though it was not as a nurse nevertheless I still had hours I never liked. What is clear to me now is that the experience I knew shift work to be was very much affected by not only the way I was going about preparing and working but also the level of how much love I showed myself
Thanks Jennifer for this great celebratory blog. I, like you, am celebrating and relishing working full-time again. My tutoring business is expanding, and even though I have less and less time for doing the voluntary writing and editing for websites, there is something so joyful about full time work – I can feel the fire rippling afar!
I too have found Serge Benhayon to be an endless source of inspiration to me and have learnt many, many practical tools of life that have allowed me to work much, much longer and more productive hours joyfully. In fact whereas in the past work used to tire me it now actually vitalises me.
I totally agree Jennifer, I have worked shift-work for over 20 years now and gave up coffee many years ago as I was using it to prop myself up after shift work but then I was finding it extremely hard to get to sleep at times. I decided to give it up and the results were amazing, I felt better within my body and my energy levels were more stable and I was able to fall asleep easily and I felt more refreshed upon waking.
What you have shared here, Jennifer, needs to be read by all nurses as most struggle with their working hours and the associated fatigue. The simplicity of listening to our bodies and our rhythms around bed times, food and exercise can be a game changer but many of us seek more complex solutions rather than their simplicity.
When we don’t look after ourselves with supportive lifestyle choices we don’t give ourselves a chance to truly commit and enjoy something, and as evidenced by your blog and relationship with full time working we can actually LOVE a job but feel so worn down by stress and disregard from not truly looking after our body that we come to believe that we don’t like it/shouldn’t do it anymore.
This draining thing that happens at work is hugely prolific. I see it happening all the time, with myself and the people I work with. But, for many of us, this is where we spend most of our time so I wonder why we allow it to be so stressful or exhausting. The props of caffeine and other medicinal techniques perhaps are there to get us functionally through the day, but what makes a real sustaining difference? What brings about true and everlasting change? In my experience the only thing that has brought this kind of profound change to my life in totality is the art of conscious presence and the Gentle Breath Meditation as taught by Serge Benhayon.
Hello Jennifer and like you are saying it is developing a relationship, a consistent and continuing relationship with your body and from there having the confidence to trust what you feel. It’s not that it’s about working full time or not but more doing in any moment what you feel is needed for you. This is what you have done, what the next part was for you to learn or see. When you do this or honour the feeling so much more opens up for you again to build an even deeper relationship with what you feel. This is a never ending circle and you can choose to walk from circle to circle or you can stay in the same circle and keeping going around and around. The scenery may change but the feeling won’t.
There is no doubt Jennifer that our body is a wonderful teacher. This being a fact it is now incumbent on us to deeply listen to, and honour the messages our body is sending. A beautiful reminder, thank you.
I can feel the love you have for your body and the celebratory way in which you write about it. There is much to celebrate about the wisdom and the magic of the human body. If we treat as the precious thing that it is, it can repay us beyond measure.
Reflections like these make me realise how living less than who we are has become the ‘norm’ and we are seen as amazing if we rise above the exhaustion and depletion that we allow to occur in life. We have it upside down don’t we? What if NOT living fully was what stood out and working from our lived life of care and service was the norm. More of Jennifer’s transformations are occurring and one day the tide will turn!
Amazing blog Jen, inspiring to see you have returned to full time work and are loving it. If we attach all of our focus to the outside and try and be ‘right’ that will be very exhausting, but if we honour what is already within we can flow with life in a different way and adjust what needs doing so we can be fit for life – which is relationships, self relationship, service, activities and nature etc.
It is amazing that you are going against the trends of working less and less hours in nursing by simply taking very good care of yourself. A true way to work full-time.
I recently lost a job and I really miss being out in the world, working, expressing myself – I find that really nourishing.
It has been some time between jobs for me, but I also remember missing working when I transitioned from one job to another. It allowed me to truly appreciate working, while at the same time I had to learn how to appreciate the period of grace in between work.
Yes, when work is much more enjoyable there is no point in reducing hours. It is like choosing less chocolate cake. Why ever would you want to do that?
I wonder how valuable your experience would be for a hospital administrator if you were able to share your experience with other nurses in a way that allows them to also improve their joy of life and their effectiveness as you managed. I wonder.
This is a lovely sharing Jennifer, and a great topic to open up for discussion.
“What I have learned and observed I have been able to apply to my own life.” and there in lies the true magic. If you choose to apply what you have learnt, you get to see if it works or not in your own life. And I am lucky to know you Jen, and we are so lucky that you chose to do this and are now gracing the floors of your hospital on a more regular basis. And this is an important story to tell because it goes against the grain of how most people are living – which is part drudgery/part enjoyment with regard to their jobs. To want to return to fulltime work because you want to and have so much to share – pure GOLD!
I can get lost in TV, “I also observed that when I watched TV I could easily ignore those tired signals, where as when I do not watch TV, I more easily check into what my body is saying, and honour it.” It is like I stop being connected with my body and my mind becomes busy and then I miss the signs my body shares to say I am tired, even exhausted. Great to not go to TV in the evening and find other ways to enjoy your time. Even if if means going to bed early.
With a similar history of having an uncommitted approach to work and to life in general as Jennifer Smith once was, I too have found myself pleasantly surprised by how great it is to work full time again. Something that I once hated and avoided at all costs, now has become the bedrock of my life from which I can feel an immense stability arising and giving support not only to myself but to my whole family as well – and I find myself asking, why on earth didn’t I choose this to begin with?
It never ceases to amaze me the life changing effects of taking responsibility for our choices, loving and caring for ourselves can have. Fantastic that you have got yourself back into full time work, with vitality, through making these changes Jennifer.
Jennifer you have a new lease on life, congratulations. It really does feel great to be alive and well and working in amongst it all as opposed to taking a judgement and self-destructive back seat.
Wow Jeannette love re reading this blog. It confirms to me how when we are in tune, connected and aware of ourselves how much more energy we have. The fact you are now working much more than you ever have is a miracle and amazing to read.
Having had a very difficult relationship with work (where I was making it more difficult than it needed to be, always looking for a way out) and reducing my hours because I always felt exhausted and felt overwhelmed. I have come to realise that it was never the jobs, as I have had some great jobs and worked with a lot of awesome people, but it was how I was in those jobs which brought in the dissatisfaction and the overwhelming urge to escape.
I retired for several years some 13 years ago because I could afford it and I absolutely loved it. However, now I work at least 70 hours a week without exhaustion and burnout and love that even more! Choices, choices 🙂
I have known for some time that an evening walk would really support me and my family but have not committed to it, I am inspired to do this this evening, it is the small things and changes that make a marked difference!
I was always one to avoid work, always looking for ways to get out of it. Now I see the work I do as a service and if I’m providing a service for someone I want to give the best service I can, so I look to be my best in all I do. Working in a full-time position has also helped to strengthen my commitment in other areas of my life too, another thing to celebrate about work.
I am preparing to return to work after taking some time off to recuperate. My attitude towards work is fundamentally different to a few years ago prior to my meeting Serge Benhayon. The extra self care and loving choices you talk about are key in feeling prepared and embracing of all aspects of life including work.
Previously the highlight of the week was the weekend, a countdown of days from one holiday to the next, any excuse to be off work relished and milked to the full, retirement seemed a great idea which couldn’t come too soon. Now I am looking forward to returning to work being part of the team, I am preparing myself to offer my best and wondering how the next phase will unfold.
The overwhelm mentioned here is very debilitating. Understanding that we do have a choice in this, no matter how busy we are and how many responsibilities we have, is understanding how to live life to the fullest without getting submersed in life through the pressures we take on. This understanding always has the way we are with our bodies at its foundation.
It does not seem to be about how much time we work, as you said, you can work part time and still feel tired. It is about the quality we are in when we work and that quality comes from a foundation we are building everyday, in taking care of ourselves.
Another very supportive read, thank you Jennifer. We often try to change life, such as work hours to cope, but we don’t often change our self care. This is key for me at the moment too, recognising more areas to increase my self care in, even in the smallest of ways, nurturing my body and then being able to work longer hours and participate in life more.
Thanks for sharing Jennifer, nurses work very hard, on their feet all day, sometimes very intensive situations caring for others, for their lives. What you have shared is a quality of life that you have begun to live by taking care of your body and how much that makes a difference. Self care is in fact powerful and I know in my experience to self care is deeper than just attending a ‘yoga’ session it is how we live everyday, how we sleep, eat, walk, work, relate with others. When we have a body that is well it is the foundation of a quality of life and then we can feel like we can do anything , there is a confidence that we can be in life and not taken by life.
This teaches us something about time. Although you spend more time at work you seem to have more time for yourself, because you are not escaping anymore who you truly are. Once expressing yourself you transition the boundaries of time and enter eternal space.
Interesting when you say that it didn’t matter how much or how little you worked, you still felt tired. And I have had the same experience. So the conclusion as you also say is how we are at work and how committed we are. Am I fully there (at work) or do I look forward to vacation time.
It is amazing how the same work can seem like a burden or a joy depending on our attitude to it, our willingness to work and to take responsibility. However, we do need a good foundation of self-care and nurturing to be able to sustain it consistently long term otherwise we will burn out and be forced to reduce hours etc.
Jennifer, it’s great how you are now able to work full-time in a very demanding job and how by listening to that “wonderful teacher” – your body – you were able to adjust your rhythm and change your attitude to work.
Knowing the qualities of self care Jennifer and living in that quality and being willing to move in that energy with all your patients is a healing in itself.
It is beautiful to feel how the body naturally wants to work and that it naturally can do so without getting drained and depleted all from the way we are with it and choose to honour its truth.
It is amazing how much of a difference it has when we fully commit to life in all area’s. Work can be seen as a chore and inconvenience that has to be done and we want to get it out of the way as quick as possible so we can go home or socialise. What if we actually enjoyed work and it wasn’t about survival and status. Then things would be a total different ball game.
I was once able to retire for three years and loved it but I am working much more than full-time now and love that even more.
This is a fabulous story. We are so used to blaming circumstances around us for any disharmonious experiences we have. It is wonderful reading how lovingly and systematically you started to deepen your observation, understanding and taking care of different areas, and how you have turned round what sounded like an aversion to being at work to enjoying it.
A super blog for me to read this morning Jennifer, as I am doing a lot of hours just now and feeling somewhat tired. Very supportive and for me to remember not to push and be very gentle with myself today.
It is somewhat rare to hear someone speak about how much they truly love work. And to not just say they ‘love it’ because it brings them recognition, or money, or good holidays, or anything in fact; but instead because they love the way in which they are able to commit, express, grow and because of the qualities that they bring to their work.
Just recently I have noticed how easy work is and I can feel that this is because I have taken it to another level, I no longer come home aching from the day. I feel this is because I am learning to enjoy every part of it regardless of what I am asked to do. In my work I meet people all day long. and I get to speak to people from all over the world, and in 2 minutes conversation I get a snap shot of their lives and what is going on for them. The more I bring all of me to my job the more I appreciate and enjoy every moment of it.
I just love being at work. Not a day goes by where there isn’t countless opportunities to feel and observe the world of energy and what every person in our day offers us by way of learning and reflection.
Where does the idea that the less you work the better your life will be come from?
What I have gathered recently is that people who have a serious issue with work are not content at all in their own bodies. So, their quality in and out of work is what it is and the thoughts about work come from that quality.
I love what you have shared here Jennifer. There is a real joy and purpose to committing to the world and to working in the world. There is a reflection that we have to offer that work can be joyful and can have a purpose beyond just meeting our financial needs.
Yes, the idea that work is truly fun, even mundane seeming or looking work is very powerful when demonstrated by a person!
Work is one of the best classrooms. It is a constant learning and no day is ever the same. If we stay open to reading what is going on, there can never ever be a dull moment.
This is huge what you share Jennifer, it comes back to our responsibility for how we live and care for our bodies or not. When we disregard our body , we disregard ourselves and we actually are a vehicle of example that shows: life is not worth taking care of. Whilst instead we got this beautiful body that is an example of how we can actually take care and be very precious with ourselves (as we would treat a baby that has just been born). How willing are we to change this cycle around, and make it truly good again, not the fake truth (so actually lies) we have been used to fall for by simple choice and experiment (creation)? Is it not time to reveal our comforts and stop hiding? Before it gets any worse, it already is. There is no other way to reverse it than to heal it with truth.
I have also learned so much and begun to observe so much more about life since beginning to study with Universal Medicine, and applying what I have learned continues to be one of the greatest gifts I have ever given myself.
I too am full of appreciation of how the more we feel and respond to life from the communications from my body, the more effortless and not draining at all it is to work or be even more engaged in life.
It’s amazing how transformational it is to the quality of our daily lives when we start to listen to our body and take care of ourselves.
I have been feeling very tired lately – working at multiple locations and longer hours, leaving very little time for myself. I thought I had prepared myself for it – but now I am exhausted. I haven’t felt like this for a very long time since I started making adjustment to the way I live my everyday life. So this past week is telling me loud and clear there’s more and caring and nurturing for our selves is something that needs constant adjustment and reviewing.
There is so much in what you write Jennifer that could be applied by anyone, the awareness of your body to stop drinking coffee, reduce TV time and to walk as a ritual before sleep. And to do this movement in a way that your body feels like, different each day. I know for myself it can be easy to sometimes think I am walking too slow but naturally my body knows what pace is right and that is something I have found has become easier the more I have made those other choices of cutting down on stimulation from outside sources. It is remarkable how much awareness there is to feel when we stop the other choices that block out our bodies wisdom, and the energy that arises that makes taking on more work such a strong impulse.
A beautiful sharing Jennifer and a wonderful reflection for us all.
The transformation you have made is a testimony to your level of responsibility, the commitment you have made to listen to your body and deeply caring for yourself.
We are designed to work and for me it is one of the things that supports me most in my life. I actually feel more energised when I have been working hard than when I have not been. So the old adage or thought of having a day off to recover is blown out of the water and what do you need to recover from? And with that I would usually watch tv etc.. and then end up feeling more tired at the end of a day off than I did before!!
When I heard Serge Benhayon mention that our body is designed to work to our last breath (although the form of the work may change) and that everyone of us deeply feels a connection with every other person (to an extent that when connection is absent it is registered as a hurt ) I was in shock. Deep down I knew both of these facts to be true, but all my life I had been trying to run away from them. This reflection was invaluable for me, it is wonderful to be reminded of such truths, because it wakes you up to considering that perhaps something needs attention, care or healing. Serge Benhayon is brilliant at holding an unwavering mirror for you to connect to the innate awareness within you because that is how he simply lives himself.
I love how supportive work is and can be for the body. Yet so many people get stressed out at work and then need a break from it! Yet we are designed to work – the question I raise here is what are we actually doing when we are at work? ie. are we actually committing to work in full or are we reluctantly there just to get the next pay check? One will support us the other will not. We reap the seed we sow as the saying goes and this is certainly true in life – choose love and humanity and that is exactly what you will get back.
Thank you Jennifer Smith for sharing what has become a common aspect of our current working environment. The level of part time workers has tripled due to the levels of exhaustion many people are feeling. It is so easy to play the blame game here and say it is due to the pressures of work or the hours that we work. Your experience has shown that with the support of the teachings of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine modalities you were able to identify the choices you were making that were preventing you from committing and providing the quality support you could in your profession. This blog is a testament of how we can make changes that bring support to us and how this can extend to our work environments.
It is interesting Jennifer how when you come back from holidays just one day into the shift you were feeling that you hadn’t had a break. This just shows so clearly, as you have said, that this is not the answer to our woes about stress at work, and that we need to live in such a way that we enjoy work and holidays and everything else equally. I love how you have turned this around.
A great sharing which helps to confirm that how we live makes a huge difference to our health and well-being.
By making different choices, like, to care, nurture, and being aware of our quality we can reduce tiredness and fatigue.
the body certainly is a wonderful teacher and a gift to show us what is going on. All we need to do is listen and here is a great example of that. Work is commitment and we are still able to do this in a way that does not push or exhaust us.
I remember when I had a period of time when I wasn’t working and I couldn’t remember what I had ever done with all the free time I had had before I started working. For me work has always been something I have loved to do, I love to work hard and finally leaving school and being able to work full time was the best feeling because it was where I wanted to be – and now what I am learning is how to work and work hard, without becoming hard and pushing though with drive, but instead learning to focus less on what I can do and more on the quality of how I do it.
This is a really awesome testimonial Jennifer, and what you share is so inspiring, my feeling is this could be really great to share on a bigger scale.
How many thousands could echo your experiences of working ? The stress we put ourselves under with work and life means there is never an off switch and the body is constantly running a level of nervous energy and even alarm that has inevitable health consequences… Burnout is not a natural end-product of a working life, we can be even more joyful, vital and and vibrant through our work, so there is much to be explored both within ourselves and how we are with life, as to how we have allowed workplaces to become, whether they truly support people.
Jennifer I love the vitality and ease that you have found with work. I feel that work and being fully engaging with the world is such a blessing and beautiful reflection to offer. There are so many who struggle with work each day and there is a healing and blessing offered by someone who can work with ease.
What a transformation Jennifer, from trying to avoid working, to enjoying full time work as a nurse. Reading your blog was more inspiring than any motivational speaker I have ever heard. You need to submit your story in to a nurse magazine for all to read, as burn out is so common in this industry.
I agree, Mary-Louise, this is a great story of interest to a lot of people, not least health administrators who are desperate to retain qualified staff.
I have found that working full time because that is what we are expected to do as an adult, rather than working with a sense of purpose and in connection with myself, a commitment and a loving of people, makes a big difference to my energy levels, my interactions, my work output and then the opportunities that are there to grow some more…for everyone.
It took me many years to discover that I actually love to work, and up to this time last year, at the age of 65, I was working full time and enjoying it. Recently though I have not been able to work due to a health condition and I am really missing it, especially the interactions with the people that I work with and the public I would meet during the day, after all connecting with people is what life is all about for me. As the word retirement is no longer in my vocabulary, I am looking forward to getting back to work very soon, and being in employment for a long time to come.
It’s a fascinating sharing Jennifer, for cutting the working hours down did not solve the issue, and so it could be for us all, that it is not actually ever the hours we work but the intentions, the willingness and the care we take in going to work and living our lives that changes our perspective of how we are when we get there. I know I now have a different attitude to work than previously and that I see the purpose is there in supporting others through the job I do, whether that is a simple interaction, say hello or being able to support another in what they do. And this all begins with how we live, how much care we give to ourselves will impact whether we wake up prepared and looking forward to the day or whether we allow it be the daily grind.
It is true we live in bodies that are masters of wisdom. Listening to, respecting, caring for and loving our bodies is the best investment and greatest joy possible and not only does it not cost anything it is priceless beyond imagination!
I too am ‘Working Full Time Again and Relishing It’! After a period of working 8 years part time to avoid overwhelm I have now been back full time for 4 years. It feels so different from before…I am more committed and with it have built a greater commitment to life. It’s fascinating to feel more vitality in making this commitment as I previously thought I would be less tired by doing less. This is most definitely not the case. I am learning that there are many things at play which bring exhaustion, but working hard is definitely not one of them!
Jennifer I agree that it is how we are in what we do that makes the big difference when we work. I work closely with students and if I take on their struggle and difficulties emotionally, or get into the mode of wanting to ‘fix’ the situation, I am easily drained of energy and return home wanting to escape from the day. Fortunately I have also learned how ‘to observe not absorb’ and when I come back to this lived way of staying present with myself I am not affected, and the people around me receive greater benefit than when I overstep the line between offering full support and taking on their challenges. This leaves me free of burdens and mind chatter and I am with myself when I come home, free from the internal chatter and burdens about the day.
When we are in an industry, we have subscribed to the consciousness of that industry no matter whether we have only one foot in or our entire body devoted, so to speak. The energy of an industry affects everyone in that industry, and in the world. The wise thing is to commit fully to any industry we are in, and start to live the true way in responsibility as Jennifer you have demonstrated in the nursing industry, which desperately needs the reflection of self-care and self-connection. It wakes us up to the fact that we can never run from responsibility and reflection, no matter which industry we go, there is still responsibility to live.
It goes to show how much we can blame ‘work’ for our exhaustion whereas you are showing how some simple self care techniques can totally change our experience.
‘There is definitely going to be a period of adjustment for my body, but I now know how to support and care myself in a way that will definitely support me to remain in full-time work for a long time to come.’ Not only have the changes you have made supported you to work full time, but they support you ongoingly, which is another miracle here. You work in a way to keep working in the future, and in a way that supports your energy levels; and not to phase out of work – amazing.
Jennifer, I love your commitment to life and work -it is never about the hours really but about how we look after selves in the process and our commitment to serving others. You appeared to have mastered both.
The easiest thing whenever we face an issue is to bail out. So if we are struggling with work, and most people seem to, it seems ‘normal’ to want to cut down the hours, dream of holidays and retirement. But this blog is a great example how that is not the real answer. What is actually needed is the start of a greater level of care and responsibility plus a dedication to observe and learn from what life shows us as shown here.
In the past, I have always thrown myself into work at the expense of my body. The job became everything. When I would have a holiday, I looked forward to going back to work for a break. I would take time off my regular job, to do other work, because my day job would interfere with completing and 18 hour days of grafting were common. I would override my body to achieve what I have taken on. Today the body is fully in charge if a task can not be finished today, there is always tomorrow.
Acknowledging how our bodies are feeling and choosing not to go into a push or drive or to choose stimulants to boost us, is a huge choice to make if we are keen to take health and well-being to the next level.
This is deeply inspirational Jennifer, how many people can say they work full-time and relish it? When we make truly loving choices our energy levels and vitality increases making the ‘impossible’ feel possible and quite simple really.
Historically I have observed that many focus on work as a way of earning money and something they have to do and thus there is a resentment that they ‘have to’. What you are sharing here Jennifer and what you are now choosing to live is that you, your body, your love of who you are comes first in the way you treat yourself and hold yourself tenderly in all your choices and movements , there is no longer the ‘belief’ that work is taking from you but that you now bring all of yourself in your fullness to work. The steps to turn around the choices we make which in turn bring so much love to self and others are so simple and available to everyone – a simple way to support humanity.
I too have started to work more business hours each week and whist it has taken some adjustment, I can feel how my way of living is supporting me in ways that would definitely not have been possible in the past. My beliefs about how much I can fit in a day or what is enough were so governed by comfort and indulgence in the past. The Way of the Livingness and understanding that I am so much more than my skills has inspired me to in my work and now I am so much more aware of who I am in every moment. I can bring love or not to every aspect of my day! Simple and profound. There is no end to this and I’m ‘relishing it Jennifer!’
Our bodies are made for work and if we listen to them and honour them then they will keep on working way beyond the traditional age of retirement. Is it possible that the current system of free health care and then pensions on retirement are actually fostering the irresponsibility with which we all treat our bodies?
For me Jennifer, rereading your blog this morning, this sentence says it all;
“Through this I have learnt (and am still learning) that my body is a wonderful teacher”.
On this deepening awareness it is now my responsibility to listen and respond.
The more we work the easier it is to work, when we then add a sense of purpose to what we are doing work becomes easy and enjoyable, no matter how demanding it is. Work actually becomes a blessing..
It sounds that you have really re imprinted the way you live so that it supports you Jennifer, rather than trying to keep reducing work hours to lessen the feeling of tiredness. It is so interesting that it may not be the workload that is the issue, but how we move and interact in life so as not to absorb the intensity or react to it.
A great example of shifting our perspective from getting through life to working in harmony with the body as our guide for optimising the quality of life and therefore the contribution we can bring to it for others. Key for me is stepping into the responsibility and commitment this requires to make it sustainable – and this always boils down to will, without which we’ll let the TV override what our bodies are telling us, we’ll not heed how our body wants to walk slowly and gently that day and we’ll eventually hit overwhelm and long to get through life again rather than enjoy its moments.
At sixty-three my workload only increases. I am under no illusion my body was literally exhausted and stressed by the amount of trauma that I had perpetrated on my body. Now after 12 years of being a Student of The Livingness I am still learning how to re-imprint the way work can be done as to not overwhelm me.
I know what you mean about relishing full time work. I relish my job as a way of learning and growing. I learn so much from my colleagues and from every situation that I am faced with. I also learn so much from the way I am with myself at work and how this determines what kind of day I have and how I interact with people. Every moment shows me something. Why would I not want to work full time?
I have noticed that on the rare days that there is no purpose, I wind up being exhausted, where on days with a purpose that I hardly stop and at the end of the day I am still with myself. I know which one I prefer!
We were all born to work and work hard, but through our lack of connection to our own innate loveliness we have allowed ourselves to be beaten down by the world, and so work has come to represent a burden, or alternatively a form of identification. Rarely however, do we just see work as a joyous part of the rhythm of life.
This is truly amazing. We hear so much about nurses burnt out. And this is not about having physical stamina to endure the stress and the demand of work. Committing to work is not about putting more hours, it is about consistency and steadiness – all backed by the way we live our every day. Work is a part of life, and not separate to it.
I have learnt that sometime it not what i am doing that needs to change but how i am doing it – which sounds simple but we can come with so many expectations, ideals and pictures of something should be that we can create our own exhaustion.
What loving care is received from someone who understands and takes responsibility for their own life. A powerful read Jennifer – no rocket science although amazing results!
As a patient what more would you want than having a nurse that is steady, consistent in their work and feeling alive and wanting to be there. At least in this situation there is a true reflection of what is possible and that you can too have this way of life.
It’s interesting that work can be seen as a ‘chore’, a ‘drag’ or something that we just have to do in life, until we can retire, or have time out on the weekends. When in fact, work can be incredibly supportive, healing, enjoyable, evolving, and support us to deepen our qualities in all aspects of life.
When I commit, the energy is given by my soul to be done what is needed. Trusting in this has changed how I work and my commitment to life and to work.
This is awesome – it needs to be shared in a nursing magazine to inspire others with what is possible.
The more commitment I have, the more space I feel. It makes no logical sense but commitment does away with the complications, delay and wasted time that takes up so much space!
Life certainly feels more purposeful and enjoyable when we engage and commit fully to it.
The revelation received via Serge Benhayon, that the energy we run in our bodies magnifies thoughout them through our movement and day to day activity, came to mind when reading this blog. If the energy comes from the source that makes us hurry, get anxious and feel like we are slaves to our work, then it consolidated in our bodies and leads to the physical breakdown that was experienced. Then, choosing another energy, the body heals and beyond that begins to work with great vitality and joy. This is great example of the choice of energy we can discern and very practically choose.
It’s such a myth that work makes us tired, and it’s actually the opposite, it is energising and is what I consider good medicine as we are designed to work. What I’ve come to know is it isn’t the work itself or even the hours we work, but the way we work and support ourselves. For me, having a consistent rythmn around when I go to bed is one of the keys and getting to bed by around 9pm when I am tired from a full day allows me to wake with plenty of time in the morning to tend to chores, study and preparing for my day without any rush.
One of my more joyful experiences in life has been that over the last 12 years I have been having more and more energy and have been able many times to increase my working hours while feeling great and not imposed upon.
‘The key here is how I went for a walk and how I went to bed. When I walked, I walked in a way that was how my body wanted to walk.’ This was key for me too. By taking care of how I move, eat and sleep enables me to cope with the demands of my job and day to day life with greater ease than ever before.
Jennifer as others have shared about themselves I used to think work as “a necessary evil” something that has to be done to get you something, to get noticed and to earn money to do what I want. Yet that is simply no longer the case, my entire perception and approach to work was back to front. Today I simply love work, despite all the challenges that get thrown up, and boy or boy they do, I love what I do. It’s clear you do as well, and in a tough industry like Nursing that is a real blessing for people to read about.
A few years ago I didn’t want to work. I wanted a life where I could be free to do what I wanted. Interestingly whilst I had no work commitments I had no money either, so I could hardly do anything. Money stress consumed me and my life. I now work in 2 of my own businesses plus on voluntary projects and I love every minute of it. We are designed to work but it is how we work that makes the difference and is key in whether we are exhausted or not.
The more I work with gentleness and care for myself the more I realise that our bodies were made for working, it is our most natural way. to simply turn up and work, with no conditions on the task, with no expectations for what we will receive in return. Just working for the sake of it is actually what we do best. The complication and the confusion seems to come when I want something from it in return, be it status or money, these are all head thoughts and do not relate to the hard working body that I and that we all do naturally have.
It is through work that we understand service, consistency, and dedication to something that is greater than ourselves.
Working full time is super supportive for our bodies. It asks us to be consistent and very loving with ourselves so that we do not lose ourselves in what we are doing.
It sure is ironic how after even a week off and coming back to work, you feel like you need a week off again! There must be something about work that we make it so stressful, maybe we have ideals about work about how we should be, maybe we treat our body differently and work in anxiousness, nervous tension, aggression or maybe there is emotions and undermining going on underneath the surface. It can be said that all of this doesn’t equate to a true way of working, thanks for sharing with us Jen something which has been sustainable for you.
Thanks so much for sharing this Jen! Like you I have often found work hard, but have also experienced working in a way that is delicate and caring of myself which ends up being not so exhausting! The key is learning not to be hard on ourselves and have expectations, for honoring what our body is naturally saying is the best way.
I agree our body is an amazing ally, and deserves treating with much more respect than I used to, ‘Through this I have learnt (and am still learning) that my body is a wonderful teacher. It really does tell me everything I need to know and understand about how I am living’.
Funny how the more we do and the more we take on, the more efficient we get and the more energy we often have. This is contrary to popular belief that you should only work so many hours per day or week or month, and that as a society, especially in certain parts of Australia, so many are having a 3-4 day working weeks to give themselves a break and have a longer weekend. The problem with this lies in what I call ‘stagnancy’ – if this is not a true call to cut back on working days, then we are disempowering ourselves and also stepping away from a commitment to life and to our society. I have found myself at both spectrums, working little to none and also working 2 full time jobs. Funnily enough when I was working little to none, I felt like life was a struggle and I had very little energy. And then now that I have been working 2 full time jobs, even though there has been a period of adjustment, I feel amazing and have so much more focus, joy and appreciation in all that I do.
I love this Jennifer as I can feel the consistency of making choices that are supportive of your whole life. Taking care of yourself such that you are able to be supported in working full time again has a huge impact not only on you but all those around you and it shows that you can work full time in a demanding job without getting burnt out.
Before having children I worked full-time however I felt exhausted all the time, never embraced it or felt committed as I was waiting for the day I did not have to work anymore and could stay at home. I then did so for 10 years indulged in mothering and enjoyed the comfort and lack of commitment to the rest of the world. However on the first day of returning to work I could feel how much I had dis-empowered myself as a woman. It then took a few more years to return to full time work and be able to sustain my week with energy and now I do I cannot image life any other way.
We often blame our work for creating the tiredness we feel without appreciating that how we are living is actually the antecedent to fatigue and tiredness. It is so empowering to actually know that by making different choices we can reduce tiredness and fatigue considerably.
There is much to appreciate (and enjoy) in committing to life and committing to responsibility.
Yes, the enjoyment part is very big!
It is easy to blame work for all our woes in life and tell ourselves that it’s our work colleagues or the work load is too much for us, but work gives us the opportunity to deal with life from so many different angles. Where else would you go where you spend so much time building relationships with a set group of people (spending more time with them than you do with your own family), given the opportunity to speak up daily, meet new people or even learn to be on your own. Whatever the job there is so much to learn about ourselves and others, and frankly it allows us to just deal with life and to get over ourselves.
We get to enjoy work and enjoy people when we bring our focus to listening to the body that will be doing the work and being with the people. What I have learnt and still learning is that the body knows how to be in life far more than the mind that does not focus on the here and now but in pasts and possible or invested in futures. It’s like not enjoying driving somewhere and getting frustrated when we choose to ignore the road signs. The body is always giving us road signs in life and I am finding and learning (without perfection) that listening to these messages is the wisest choice.
I love working…. and after a recent programme of simply saying yes to what life has presented there is an abundance of opportunities. Why do I love work? Because it puts me in front of people, it connects me to others, it means I get to express everything I know and feel in lots of different situations. Everything I know and feel comes to life….
Thank you Jennifer this is an inspirational sharing and like many Universal Medicine students shows when the simple principles are applied practically in life changes do happen. Nothing is perfect and there is still much to learn but a quality and understanding is present in our work that was not there previously and this supports us through the working week as well in another areas of life. Teaching this Way at the onset of our working lives would mean a decrease in those reaching burn out or people leaving professions they actually love because of the high stress levels.
It is wonderful to feel how we can do any kind of work when we choose to be in harmony with our bodies.
The coffee that we can use as an artificial source of energy does exactly the opposite of what it is that we want it to do. Our bodies have to work overtime as it goes into the nervous energy from the stimulation of the caffeine and then we have the crash factor to deal with. So it really is like being on a roller coaster and without it you can start to get those intense headaches. I pushed on through so to speak and preserved with the headaches and then they slowly got less and less. Today like you being inspired by Universal Medicine and making loving and caring choices for myself if I have to do a double shift which sometime can lead into 16-17 hours I might be ready for bed at the end of the day but I have felt steady, alive and vital throughout.
Ho w inspiring to the rest of the health professional community – to see someone committed and willing to work full time and love every second of it, and not be tired and exhausted by the work
I too have noticed that I am not as exhausted as I used to be when working on the ward as a midwife when I make an effort to move in a way that I am connected to me, without nervous tension, and throughout my shift I have stop moments to check in with myself and feel how my body is and what I may need.
I have heard others share that they really love working full time as it is supportive to having a consistent rhythm the key in what you are sharing is that it is done with a willingness to share yourself and be in service. This is so inspirational in a world where the majority are working to make money and fuel their lifestyles. Imagine if everyone focussed on the quality of their work and knowing just that is service, no matter the career, the world would be a very different place.
I have had a job since I was 13 years old and had some good and bad experiences along the way. Mostly my jobs have come to me. Working always offers the opportunity to evolve even if it is to understand that a particular type of work is definitely not for you.
Standing up and going to the bathroom when I need to and taking a proper lunch break – something so simple but easily overlooked can make a big difference in the way I feel about myself and work. By not taking care of myself, I am opening the door for overwhelm and resentment to seep through.
I pushed my body to the point where I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Adrenal Exhaustion and for 9 months to a year spent most of my time on the couch barely able to move. It has only been through embracing the teachings of Serge Benhayon and receiving healing sessions from esoteric practitioners coupled with medical support and finally learning to listen to and honour my body that I have made a recovery. For over ten years I have not felt equipped with enough energy to hold down a job but I’m looking forward to having a full time job understanding how to be with myself to not go down the path of exhaustion again.
This demonstrates Jennifer that it’s not the work that is exhausting us but how we are with ourselves in every moment of every day and whether we choose to listen to the messages our body is giving us or instead choose to override them with the result being that our body loses it’s vitality.
Jennifer I loved that you can feel that this choice to return to work full-time comes not from a reaction but actually an honouring of you. Every choice you have made has supported you to return to full-time work in a manner that is loving, honouring and supportive, allowing you to deepen your self-responsibility while also feeling vital. It begins with developing a true relationship with self, committing to you and bringing you to all that you are and all that you do.
‘I had to pay the bills, so I worked only as much as I had to’ – This is really interesting Jennifer, as many people do this and although there is nothing ‘wrong’ or bad about working the required amount in order to pay all the bills, we need to ask ourselves whether we are working then to support humanity and serve or if the quality of what we’re doing is rushed or minimal.
It would be amazing if all nurses and healthcare workers and in fact everyone knew what you have discovered Jennifer before they begin their working life. It’s an essential part of life that we are able to sustainably work and with that enjoy what we do, whatever job it may be (including parenting etc), because then we can truly serve one another.
Jennifer what an inspiration you are to all nurses, so many people I know in health care have burnt themselves out or are heading that way, you have shown there is another way, that when we listen to our bodies and honour ourselves we become become beacon of lights for others.
The blog beautifully describes how we need to learn to enjoy our work. Finding our work unpleasant and reducing our hours wasn’t the answer.
The body certainly is a wonderful teacher, thank you Jennifer for sharing you experiences and your wisdom. Absorbing energy and situations at work is draining and debilitating, the transformation you have made to not absorb is a credit to you. Your level of commitment and self-care is inspiring.
work keeps us grounded and keeps our feet squarely on the ground where they need to be. There is no truth to be found in perpetually wandering amongst the roses, no matter how beautiful their allure may be.
I have always found my days off to be the times when I lose focus and get distracted. Work always brings me back into my body, which is the case when I do anything with purpose for people. The moment I lose sight of people or purpose I lose sight or myself and what I am here to do.
If we don’t care for ourselves we will get run down and feel exhausted, no matter how much we cut down on work – it’s like everything is a drag and a burden.
When we finally see that life is about beingness, and not about the experience of taste and what we desire, we will see that work is no different in essence to any other aspect of our life.
This is really great Jennifer, to hear about your new commitment to work and yourself, an amazing turnaround.
Building the body of Love and with this we can serve – beautiful Jennifer.
This turn around is amazing to read about Jennifer, ‘I now know how to support and care myself in a way that will definitely support me to remain in full-time work for a long time to come.’
Jennifer in one sentence you share the problem, the reality and the answer “What I found was that no matter how many hours I worked I would still feel overrun by work stress.” to me this shows clearly that stress is not down to how much we do, but instead the quality we do it in and our need for the outcomes.
I love the way you qualify the quality of your actions as being just as significant if not more than the actual action “The key here is how I went for a walk and how I went to bed. When I walked, I walked in a way that was how my body wanted to walk.” and “I just acknowledged what my body was feeling and worked in a way where I did not push myself.” Your insights and the fact that you are back at full time work shows that it is not necessary to avoid work or shirk any responsibility, but it is about paying attention pretty much like a scientist to what our body is communicating and making choices that lovingly prepares us for the array of situations we are likely be facing.
I agree, our body is an amazing teacher, all we have to do is then listen and honour it.
Jennifer this is beautiful, I love that you have found a way to care for yourself such that you are able to work full time again. To me this feels so important, you then offer a reflection for other nurses and other professionals that shows that you can do shift work full time, care for yourself, and not burnout or become fatigued. This is very inspiring, thank you.
Your headache when you stopped drinking coffee is undeniably showing that coffee has an impact on the body.
Growing up we had chores to do; walking the dog, washing dishes, cleaning, taking out the trash. Life has been about working. Without work, comfort turns into frustration, and that will set the stage for abandoning hope and joy has long since left the building. Work is how we are built to be. Work is the glue that supports everyone at the same time.
Jennifer what you share needs to be seen by the world wide nursing community, taking simple steps and listening to what our bodies are saying is fundamental to our own health and to the health of our patients. You have shown there is another way to the burn out that is currently rife in this sector.
I have had a full time job since I left university without any significant gaps in employment however at times this has been with behaviours out of work which have meant that I am really not committing to be present in my life including work. In removing these and discovering the layers underneath I am aware that we can do so much to prevent ourselves from being fully present in circumstances which we wish to avoid or which bring up things for us to feel which we may wish we could ignore however there must come a point where this changes and we start to accept our responsibility.
Our body does really teach us so much as long as we are prepared to slow down and listen to it. I have had a number of jobs and my body has been very loud at trying to tell me things at different times. There have been times when I have ignored my body and continued to work in a particular job or drive myself harder than I should be and as a consequence my body and health suffer. So I am learning to stop more often and listen to the signs that are there for me.
‘What I found was that no matter how many hours I worked I would still feel overrun by work stress’ – Your observations and experience Jennifer are profound and exposes the choices many make that are blamed on something that is not true. Living in awareness of our thoughts, belief systems, ideals and the many pictures we carry about life is exhausting and your blog has exposed this. A different way of living is available to us all, all we need to do is make different choices, to re-connect to who we truly are and to commit to living this and celebrate the what unfolds..
Thank you Jennifer . Love how the simple observation of what your body needs, enables you to bring a connection and vitality to everything you do.
Jennifer, this is amazing to read, I love the simplicity you share here, that by taking care of ourselves – listening to our bodies, not having artificial stimulators such as coffee, walking after work – how supportive all of these very simple, natural ways of living are and amazing that by making these changes that you are now able to work full time, thank you for sharing this.
Work, play – when we come to see that both are in fact one and the same, we have freed ourselves of one of the great illusions of life.
I absolutely relish my full time job. It is a way to fully commit to life. The more I commit to life the more energy I have, therefore it is a win win situation. When I commit fully I feel so much joy.
Working full time has been a great learning for me. Having thought previously I would never be able to fit in a full time job, and just worked part time for many years whilst bringing up my children, I have discovered that not only can I do that, but also I am able to do regular voluntary work as well. Having changed the way I do things, and actually committing to something that is not about me but about providing a service for other people, I have found how much more energy I have and how much I enjoy meeting and connecting with people. When I lose connection with this commitment to life, I get tired and nobody benefits. Working is such a great way to support ourselves, and everyone else.
I can feel it is about commitment to ourself and to life, that makes or breaks our day. When we are not fully committed to living all that we are we get exhausted and leave things behind. Which only makes us more exhausted, working is a great thing to do, being with people learning constantly.
It is a very real condition that people feel it is the ‘work’ and culture of the work place that is responsible for the exhaustion and stress that is experienced. What I’ve also discovered is it doesn’t matter where I work, what I do, how much or how little, if there isn’t a level of care or honouring for myself in all the ways you describe I lose myself to what is going on around me and then the exhaustion comes in. The responsibility is for me to simply stay with myself all through the day. Self-care in the work pace is a culture that supports everyone equally.
I can wholeheartedly say I love my work and I love all that I learn through my work. This doesn’t mean it is easy or not challenging, but that I know every part of it is designed to bring out the best of me. When I surrender to this, even more is revealed. It’s like a gift that never ends.
My experience is that many people at work are focussed on the week-end, the next holiday or retirement and not on what is going on right in front of them therefore not honouring how their body feels in the moment. I am not immune from this myself, but have discovered that a job is what you make it and any job can be fun if you are connected to yourself and make it about purpose and not just about getting from 9 to 5.
What is amazing, is not only the fact that you are committing to work in a whole new way; but the quality of your life in all regards, including the zest and enthusiasm you now bring.
What you are talking about is huge. Most of the people I speak to complain about work and feel exhausted and drained by the end of each week. How valuable would it be if everyone realised that instead of day dreaming about the weekend, the next holiday or retirement, they could start to to listen and honour what their body says that would be the first step toward turning things round.
I started working full time more than a few years ago, and I must share that even though it did take a bit of adjustments, I still found that it was something that helped me focus on being more efficient, more focused, more careful about how I cared for myself and the choices I made on a daily basis around me. And today, though I cannot say that I have perfected things and am still learning to adjust, I work more than full time, often working time and half or double time, so that on some weeks when I work ‘only’ full time, it actually ends up feeling easy. I am not saying everyone should do this (work full time/full time and a half/double time), but I have found that in my experience I have busted some ideals and beliefs by working as much as I do today and for this I am very much in appreciation.
Jennifer – how amazing to hear that you have embraced full time work and have busted the idea that it is exhausting and that it cannot be done long term. So many people in society find themselves wanting to cut back on hours and take it ‘easy’ but yet find themselves just as tired or more tired and less productive too. I love how you have incorporated listening to your body, taking more care of yourself with exercise and foods etc. and how this has allowed you to build back and adjust to full time work. Full time work can certainly be done without exhaustion, and when done whilst caring for ourselves can actually give us energy back! Thanks for sharing this with us, at a time when exhaustion is sky high in our society!
Our life is transformed when we can work full time and have plenty of energy left to do other productive things during the week. It is quite joyful, actually.
Working full time is a real commitment to life. Life requires purpose, and for me, work is one environment where purpose can really shine. My purpose at work is not to get my work done, although I am amazing at achieving the required outputs, it is about the quality that I bring to my work. Being all of me in all that I do, say and produce through my work – this is my true purpose at work.
There’s a really great point you make here, that you stopped drinking coffee. For most people working and getting tired its the coffee that they turn to or other stimulants as I did. It shows that working full time, in a busy environment is more than possible and doesn’t need any caffeine or stimulants.
If we work permanently part time because full-time is too unpleasant then we are not expressing in our fullness. In the long run that is not good for us.
“My body is a wonderful teacher. It really does tell me everything I need to know and understand about how I am living, the choices that I am making…” It’s interesting how easy we disregard the signals from our body, but once we start self caring and be more gentle towards ourselves, how much clearer and obvious it is to regard and listen to our body. There becomes less over-riding and more trust and empowerment with ourselves.
Everything starts with us and how we in turn care and nurture ourselves flows into every pocket of our lives, whether it be at work or at home, it is the key to life and how we live it everyday. It’s also an ongoing learning and something that shifts and changes constantly. It’s amazing how even the smallest changes like going to bed early when we feel tired or finding a supportive chair at work to sit in can make such a huge difference to how we feel everyday. Self care is a fundamental choice for responsible living and it is such a joy too.
In the past I too have been a slave to working less hours in favour of the lifestyle that I had. I championed working less hours, being able to go to the beach during the day and do other things because I had time on my hands. I valued the time over money. Having committed over the past 6 months to full time work I am feeling the support that it offers me not only financially, but how I am much more fully committed in all aspects of my life given that I am committed to work. It is supporting me in so many more ways than I had ever imagined.
I find it interesting, the relationship between self-care and work, as care for myself at work was rarely looked at or considered. Things are different now and as i have come to understand how important self care is, I feel more inclined to approach work with the same amount of care both towards myself and the people I work with. So that drive to succeed is simply not present, because it actually feels disrespectful to myself and everyone around me.
Thank you Jen for a great article, it is amazing how by listening to our bodies, attending to our food choices and our sleep patterns how we are provided with so much more energy that enables us to take on more responsibility in a joyful way, To love what we are doing is a beautiful thing.
This is awesome Jennifer. I have found that the more I support myself in work, the more capacity I have to work and then the more I work the more I am able to support myself in that work. It is a confirming cycle that builds my capacity for work. As part of this support, I also know when it is time to rest, as this supports me and my ability to work.
Given the crisis of over whelm and exhaustion we have in our professions, particularly health professions, your sharing is oh so important – our health and our attitude towards hard work is governed by our choices.
I know the feeling of having too much to do and it is easy to be overwhelmed, but when we work with the flow and rhythm of the body, it is truly incredible how much we can fit into a day.
I love the feeling of working hard – if there’s one thing that keeps me focused and heading on the right evolutionary path… it’s work 🙂
This small practical tip is essential to look after yourself in all jobs. When I become complacent with applying eating, exercising and sleeping well I tend to feel dull and unsatisfied at work.
What stands out here is that by understanding how to take care of ourselves we can approach life and work in a completely different way. It’s clearly not about work that “drains” us but how we are in work that is key.
Over the last couple of years I have gradually felt to deepen my responsibility to work and while this has been happening gently, this year I felt to deepen my commitment to work. The feeling of readiness that Jennifer talks is growing stronger in my body and as I write this, a moment to appreciate how far I have come is welling up inside me. Thank you Jennifer for sharing.
The wise teachings from Serge Benhayon in choosing to have a relationship with your body that is deeply caring and loving is one of the most supportive and life changing experience I have had in my life too. When you read it what is running through your head is ‘yeah what’s the big deal’ (well I did when I first heard it) – for me I didn’t know the true deal of how far gone I had become with myself and my body. So checked out and numbing myself so I didn’t have to feel what we are always feeling. Honouring our bodies is key and thank goodness I started to experiment with this for myself to feel the ginormous shift in how I feel and connect with life. I love it.
Everything is energy, so working in a way that is energetically draining will not be fun. Nursing would be a simple job and so rewarding, if the Nurses self-care and valued the joy they bring to peoples lives – rather than taking on so many emotions and creating stressful situations.
I can see how work can be demanding and exhausting, and why we would seek some more time away from work. The key I am learning is to be myself when working – this is what I really want.
‘What I found was that no matter how many hours I worked I would still feel overrun by work stress’. I have completed this on line study, which is now available to everyone, and it is full of tools that can help deal with stress!
STRESS AND PRODUCTIVITY IN THE WORK PLACE
http://study.coum.org/course/view.php?id=42
Although I hated going to school, I loved the routine – and so when I was able to work full time I found what I had been waiting for, and ability to work and have routine and find enjoyment in the expression of the job I am doing.
Working in some environments while being aware and sensitive can be very challenging. The key is to connect to our inner heart while we are feeling as otherwise we absorb.
When we seek to not work in full because we are so exhausted by it and when this affects so many of us this is a clear sign that our systems from very early on do not support us to be who we are but rather work against us claiming who we are, so that we live in contraction not expressing ourselves in dullness and constant fatigue.
Yes Mary it’s interesting how many people rush home from work so that they can get to “relax”in front of the TV. I have found too that watching TV is stimulating and so it is not what we think it is. Perhaps it would be better to be honest and say it is the way for us to check out and to numb ourselves from our day. At least that would mean we would start to be more honest about the quality we are living in and we could start to question why we want to check out.
Thank you Jennifer, I have found this too, having not worked full time for a long time too , how I live and take care of myself has supported me to now be working full time again and really enjoying it. I really found how draining or stimulating watching TV can be in the evening leaving me with a fog and sluggishness the next morning. All the little caring details including how I go to bed and get up in the morning either support me in my day or set me up to feel tired and exhausted. The commitment to myself is the commitment I bring to humanity, each day.
The other thing that I have found quite interesting with working full time is that I seem to have found more time in my day, as strange as it may sound. I am working more hours and yet I cannot say that I have less time. I am experimenting with my daily rhythm to see what works and what doesn’t and sometimes the simplest of changes can make space for more of what I need to complete. There is no perfection here at all, but an interesting observation nevertheless. When I worked part time, I would often wonder how I would fit everything in that I need to do…that was a myth for there is plenty of time.
So much goes on in a day of work. When I used to work on a more part-time basis it was because I didn’t want to deal with what I was experiencing at work. Which, with the power of hindsight were my choices and how I wasn’t dealing well with what a work day presented. We can be tricked into thinking it is the job, the work, our collegues, the pay, anything really, but I found that it kept coming back to me. Which in the end means that I also have the power to make the changes that are needed.
Thank you, Jennifer. Your story is a wonderful testimony of how the teachings of Universal Medicine can change our lives in very specific everyday ways. What a difference in your working life to be able to go back to full time and not feel burnt out like a lot of your profession. It just goes to show that if we look after ourselves as a priority, the quality of care that we are able to provide for others improves dramatically also.
It’s interesting to observe Jennifer how you created a picture painting it from one ideal to the next to avoid the truth. It becomes an illness self-created through owning ideals instead of being honest about why is this a particular issue for you like you did and healed.
I know a lot of medical practitioners who keep their hours down because they have difficulties with the onslaught of emotions and irresponsible behaviour. It would be good to have proper training available how to take care of yourself in such circumstances. It would hugely benefit the practitioners, society and the patients.
It has been over twenty years since I last worked full time. What I am realising is that with my commitment to self the more I want to commit to work and I am building on this taking responsibility in areas I have ignored for so long and addressing them. I am finding it is the consistency in committing to the jobs that may seem small that develops a greater responsibility.
It is wonderful to feel the joy in Jennifer’s love for working full time showing us that with self-loving choices it Is possible to work full time and love it and not get bogged down with exhaustion and overwhelm.
I love how my body willingly responds when I step up to serve – always being clear about my limits but never wanting to be let off the hook. That latter bit is my mind playing games looking for ‘time out’ and if I indulge this, my body cops it and I feel weighty and apathetic. So I get this, Jennifer, with understanding of the need for periods of adjustment, there is also this sense that there is no limit to our capabilities.
The fact that you are now working full time again Jennifer and enjoying it tells us all that we are missing something significant in our education about self awareness and self worth. If we simply learnt how much we can absorb and be affected by outside events, emotions and our own beliefs and pictures, much overwhelm could be avoided. Such basic elements are missing form our education – at school and at home…
I find it deeply supportive how you describe the whole process of recreation. So we don’t get the idea that Serge Benhayon has the happy pill for us. And I understand, that it is each person’s learning and day-to-day-choices over a period of time that bring true changes to our health.
Through this I have learnt (and am still learning) that my body is a wonderful teacher. So true, Jennifer, yet so many of us ignore the messages from our bodies until they are very loud and clear and either the pain is too much or the illness too intense that we cannot overlook it. The body will naturally guide our every step if we heed it.
Jennifer, your blog confirms the fact that it is not how much we work or what we do but the quality in which we do it that matters. Once we connect to the purpose of what we are doing, it takes the focus off our selves and we see how much we are needed and what we can bring to the workplace and then we only want to bring quality to our work.
Just amazing to read this. When you are exhausted it is hard to fathom that the condition may have stemmed from a holding back of committing to work, study etc.. I have found I have much more energy when I commit in full to things instead of just going with the motions.
Something vital is clearly missing from our education system when we are growing up to be in work we seek to be away from and find no matter how we work nothing changes, we still feel the same exhaustion and stress as before. The thing missing is clearly self care as I have come across many who have turned their lives around for the better through simple self care. It proves to be common sense yet it is rarely lived.
I love how you listened to your body and have been able to return to full time work because of your honest approach to the way you were living and your emotional state of being and the effects it was having on you and how wonderful for the hospital that they have a nurse who is not only fully responsible, but also loving her chosen profession and able to bring that care and joy to all her patients. I feel so-called ‘energy’ drinks and foods, including coffee are such a rort.
Isn’t it ironic how stimulants like coffee that are used so prolifically to sustain energy levels actually drain and lead to exhaustion? There is much to be said for Jennifer’s approach of going beyond the superficial way of working and respecting our bodies and building vitality naturally, so we can end up with great stamina and endurance.
I’ve worked, part time, full time, casual, not at all, two jobs, in multiple business, voluntarily and the list goes on. I just thought work was something you did as a part of life. Almost like you had no choice and if you wanted to ‘be something’ then work was the avenue for that. This has all changed and continues to change pretty much on a daily basis. Work is still something I do but it doesn’t ‘define the man’ like it use to, more and more it is an extension of my life. In other words it’s the same as being at home or in the park just the scenery has changed.
I love the practical ways each of us can help ourselves through work and life simply by listening to our bodies and responding by making self caring choices.
Looking at what this really means, to work full time, I can see that it means commitment to life. In whatever capacity that may be, full time means all of life embraced in full with no holding back of who you are and the expression that you have, allowing this expression to be in every facet and every aspect of your life.
It is interesting, how many people, who can afford to do so, if their work is stressful, cut down their hours rather than deal with the cause of the stress. It is easier, but quite expensive.
Our bodies are wonderful teachers which never stop giving. I have come to realise that my body is my greatest friend who will never let me down and no matter what I put it through it is still willing to make the next step with me to evolve into more responsibility. More and more I am getting to know how important the relationship between work and our bodies is and what there is to offer to the world in the way of a reflection.
A great way to work.
I have always found it interesting how a day off relaxing and doing nothing can be just as if not more exhausting than a day working. This does not mean we work ourselves like slaves but that perhaps working is good for us, having a purpose and focus, and than resting to rejuvenate the body.
I too am grateful for the support and inspiration from Serge Benhayon to turn round my relationship with work, realising that responsibility is our natural expression and our body is designed to work – and that it is important for me to deeply listen to and honour my body to know how to take care of myself to ensure I am able to provide the best service, just as this blog has so beautifully expressed.
Thank you Jennifer, this is a great testament of the teachings of Universal Medicine and the benefits of self-care and honouring of our bodies and how living this way allows us to be more of who we are in whatever our chosen field is and offer a true reflection of what service is to humanity.
It’s amazing how such practical activities such as going for walks regularly and taking care whilst getting ready for bed helped you to turn around your relationship with exhaustion so quickly. Fatigue and exhaustion is something many, many people live with in our society and what you’ve described in your blog is a simple, effective and groundbreaking way to address this issue, putting focus on developing a loving relationship with our bodies as Serge Benhayon has presented and emphasised through his workshops and presentations.
Jennifer, I love how you say that you were “gradually increasing not only my hours of work, but my level of responsibility.” By supporting yourself first you then can support others without being drained.
How I walk and the energy I walk in makes all the difference to the way I feel using the day.
I too am learning that how I am living and the choices I am making have an impact on how tired or vital I am the following day. I used to think that if I was tired I just needed to sleep more, but I am realising now that this is not the case and that it is how I walk during the day, and how I take myself to bed that will determine how I am the next day. This is revolutionary and is something that if taught in schools, could potentially change children’s perceptions of how to take care of themselves as they get older and deal with living in a world that has ever increasing demands and expectations of them.
“The key here is how I went for a walk and how I went to bed. When I walked, I walked in a way that was how my body wanted to walk.” To me this is revolutionary compared to how we are taught. In the past I was told to exercise or to go to bed and get sleep but no where was I told or did I choose to connect to the fact that it is first the quality of how I am in what I do that is critical before even considering what I do.
It’s interesting to observe how I am on different days of the week and how very tired I can feel on one day and how energised and full of energy I can feel on another. I have started tracking back to take note of how I have been with myself and what things I have done to support myself on the days I feel great, and also what I’ve done on the not so great days.
I like the idea of a wind down period before bed and have recently made it a focus in the evenings. It doesn’t mean I don’t do anything, but the things I choose to do are with the intention of preparing myself for bed. For example I have stopped looking at my phone when I’m in bed, and don’t have the computer in my bedroom.
Committing to life and working full time is one of the key principles to life. I was living a withdrawn life and was working less than full time and juggling three jobs to balance having enough money coming in. I came to realise with the support from my practitioner in the Universal Medicine modalities that this was having an effect on the quality of my being. To then make the changes to get one job that was full time totally changed my relationship with life. I now have a genuine love for life and I am constantly blown away by the potential of what I am able to bring and the ability to work in high demanding situations yet not take on the strain of it all – sometimes I can but this has become less and less over time to a point that I very rarely have any issues at work. What ever it is I calmly address it and work out ways to work with what it is that needs being dealt with. No way would I have been able to cope with what I do now without going into immense hardness and shutdown of my body before Serge Benhayon’s teachings of the Ageless Wisdom.
My interest was seriously piqued when you tied how people long for retirement, in the same way we long for an easy life / less hard work. I can absolutely see how the two are linked… not getting fed back with joy from the work we are doing, we long for release. That is a super unhealthy approach to life.
Jennifer it is so inspiring that you are working full time and loving it. Not because you have to, not because you feel an obligation but because you love your work and you have supported yourself in such a way that you can work without it draining you.
I am learning that when things get difficult and I start to withdraw a bit from life, things actually get so much worse, because in that giving up, we actually get more drained and exhausted. When I commit back fully into life, there is much greater energy and vitality that I could have dreamed possible.
I love this Jennifer – “When I walked, I walked in a way that was how my body wanted to walk.” This is so simply expressed and contains immense truth. I am working on my walk too and can now feel immediately if I impose a walk onto my body that it does not feel in alignment with. I am glad for that communication from my body and am able most of the times to adjust accordingly.
Working full time can be a nightmare if we are not prepared. If we are already exhausted and drained from not taking good care of ourselves then full time work will always feel like a drudge. In contrast, if we are fully prepared by taking good care of ourselves full time work can be an absolute joy. I have experienced both, and I will always choose the latter. Life is so much easier and more joyful and service becomes a pleasure.
There actually is something energising I have discovered, working full time when it is done with purpose and care for yourself first – instead of exhausting me mentally and physically, working gives me more energy to do things and work hours I wouldn’t have been able to work back when I approached it already run down in myself, and taking on all the emotions and reactions at work.
If I work with the underlying attitude of ‘its all too hard and too much” I feel drained and fatigued’. I find that working with purpose actually energises me…When I get on with it knowing what I bring and what needs to be done I find I have the energy to do it. It’s an interesting thing to observe day-to-day.
I have made very similar changes too Jennifer as a result of the inspiration of Serge Benhayon and the Universal Medicine presentations, and I now refer to the time prior to this as ‘my other life’… as that is exactly how it feels.
Jennifer what you’ve highlighted here is every employers dream… and the answer to so much in life in fact. Looking after ourselves in a way that allows us to work to our potential has such a huge flow on effect in life, well beyond that of the workplace, and beyond what it means for us personally to do so. Everything changes… relationships, dynamics, efficiency, clarity… etc. It is beyond gold what you have done and what you are sharing, thank you.
In my job of recruiting over the many years, i’ve yet to come across anyone who truly enjoys work, and works unstimulated with natural vitality, a love and regard for what they do, their profession and the people they work with or alongside. There’s always a convenient reason to leave, with the hope that a new job will provide the answer to what is being experienced. In short, what creates this discontent I find is a dissociation or dis-connection from the body, caring for it and so too ourselves to know we are worth it – irrespective of anything outside of us like title, pay, level and so on, and not be willing to compromise on this. For it is the compromise, or rather compromised position that opens to door closing the door on feeling we’re worth committing to and hence committing to any job we do. Commit back to the body, to commit back to work.
It’s amazing that the one tool we need for work, and to work, is our body.. and in knowing this how much we still really don’t take care of it or self-abuse it with habits that don’t truly help vitality, a depletion that causes a ‘switch off’ to work, and life itself. I have found when there is the attention of the body, of its care, nourishment there is a re-engagement to its importance in being preparing us for what work we need to do. Work itself changes and so too does its quality. Re-engage the body with love, to re-engage with work and life.
To go from virtually putting up with work to get just get by was my life before I met Serge Benhayon. Today after slowly making changes to my rhythm I have a true purpose in life and am working constantly 10 hours a day and loving it.
When we commit to life in full and take responsibility of our bodies we realise that we can work full time or more as it is not just about us but what is actually needed by humanity and we are reflecting something powerful to all.
Let us really consider what is being written about here… In a profession that is continually crying out for more people, in a workforce in general that is debilitated by stress and fatigue, in a world where the in balance of monetary flow has led to the disempowerment of the working force in general, we have someone who has reconfigured their body their attitude and their life to actually understand that working hard is empowering… So let us look at the catalyst for this extraordinary change… And then we find quietly working behind the scenes, Universal Medicine bringing a new paradigms of how to live a fulfilled life to humanity
What a great reminder of the fact its not about what we do but how we do it. That working full time is something that is deeply beneficial for us yet we perceive it as a burden. That whatever industry we are in by looking after ourselves we can bring that care to all others. The fact you’ve shown that you don’t need to stay burnt out (and even get burned out in the first place) is something that many will be taking note of.
Jennifer you wrote: “I also observed that when I watched TV I could easily ignore those tired signals . . . ” I like to add that if I was looking at TV my whole body got into a way of stress and raciness and that made it very difficult for me to wind down as well.
There are a lot of public service and other jobs that deal directly with the public that all have a high burnout? All of these types of jobs involve us connecting to others or is the burnout professions not connecting? When we care for ourselves, we don’t have the holes that the outside world can creep in and sap our energy like putting a straw in a coconut.
It is part of our responsibility to keep our body and our mental health in shape so we can be of service when working, which includes being able to work full time.
What stands out from reading your account Jennifer, is the word ‘commitment’. You may not have written the actual word(?), but it’s the key element at play here…
Is it possible that our tiredness, and the drain we can feel from work, and indeed much of life, can be due to a lack of commitment? A lack of commitment to truly looking after ourselves, and a lack of commitment to participating in full in life? It’s tangible in your words here, just how much you have built your own body’s capacity for your work, through your commitment and love for yourself – this is clearly the ‘missing ingredient’ in how we approach work (and so much of life). You are the absolute proof in the pudding. So many can learn from this…
I love commitment and find that when we truly commit to work and to life that the commitment feeds us back with an abundance of energy to get everything we need to done.
This is truly amazing Jennifer. In an industry where so many do suffer from burn-out and exhaustion, you have bucked the trend.
Committing to full time work has supported me to commit to life on a deeper level. For over a decade I have run my own business where I have decided what work I do when. I have had plenty of spare time during my days as a result of this. Of recent times, I have taken up a job in addition to running my own business and am thoroughly enjoying the deeper level of commitment that I am making to all area’s of my life by committing to this job. I have much more on now but as a result of this commitment I also have much more energy.
“Through this I have learnt (and am still learning) that my body is a wonderful teacher.” Like you Jennifer I am also learning this and I agree, my body is the best teacher in the University of Life.
There is a clear difference between those days where I am stuck in the little picture and those that I feel part of a bigger rhythm of life. In the smaller picture, I feel like hamster running in the wheel of life – work and everything else sits within that frame. Everything is hard work with no purpose and just something that has to be done. Of course I want to cut down the time I engage with this, and these are every day common sentiments. There are other days when I feel far bigger than this, from within! There is a steady wisdom, love and harmony that is not easily shaken, and I can achieve so much more in a quiet steady manner, just as a normal part of my day. This article is great because it shows that this difference that we sometimes experience is not just a fluke and a random occasion, but something that is directly and irrefutable affected by the way we choose to live. An inspiring and empowering reflection.
Working full time can bring an immense sense of satisfaction. Committing to serving in a way that is going to make a difference is one of the best feelings there is.
Jennifer, whilst I am not in the nursing industry I’ve often heard the fact people reduce their hours the longer they work unless they can’t afford to do so. You have been there and then shown how you can be in nursing full time and love it. This not only relates to nursing but to every one job, to me it confirms what I’ve come to understand that it’s our responsibility in how we live first and foremost as no matter what job we go to it is us that needs to change in the care we take for ourselves.
Jennifer you wrote: “The key here is how I went for a walk and how I went to bed. When I walked, I walked in a way that was how my body wanted to walk.” I only can agree – as if I would push myself instead of listening to my body I would get racy and that would be not a good way to go to bed.
If we don’t have a good overall rhythm and no self care, work does become burdensome, no matter how much we cut it down. We know that we are allowing work to drain us by our own choices and that is where we can turn everything around, not by staying away from it.
When we absorb the emotions of those around us at work, work becomes a burden after the first hour – even a burden before we even enter our place of work. I work on the computer all day and I need to watch this phenomenon as I then feel an urge to reduce my awareness as well, in order to handle the emotions of what is on the computer.
Congratulations and it is amazing in a great way that you are doing so well.
Thank goodness you are back at work full time Jennifer. Having read some of your other blogs you are clearly an excellent nurse, and the patients you tend to are lucky to have you (now full time!).
There is so much purpose to life when we are able to commit to working. I find that work is a great marker of how my whole life is going. If I feel drained at work then I am not supporting myself at work or away from work, whereas if I am feeling full and vital at work then I am supporting myself at work and outside of work. For me, work tends to highlight how I am feeling more broadly and provides an excellent way to refine my livingness.
What I found was that no matter how many hours I worked I would still feel overrun by work stress. Yes, it really is all about the thoughts that we entertain and whether we are with ourselves or not. As if we are not, life and situations, can take us over and feel burdensome. So great to have your experience here Jennifer, letting everyone know, it is never about how much but the quality that is important, which comes from truly supporting ourselves first
The way we relate to life reflects how we relate to our bodies. I have found over the last few years with the support of Universal Medicine is that the body knows how to live life. When we listen life expands, when we ignore it’s wisdom life gets overwhelming and a misery. When we follow anyone or anything outside of what we feel in our bodies, be it someones words/advice/a mental picture/ideals/beliefs of how to be in the world without referring back to our feelings and the quality of our bodies is when life gets out of control. Our bodies know life more than our minds as it is an active, down to earth part in life.
I have often heard the phrase that when we find a job we love you will never work again! When we love ourselves completely, we love to do everything.
My time as a registered nurse was stressful and I now understand with the help of blogs like these that I was absorbing a lot of the stress from the atmosphere in wards. It is really wonderful to read about someone learning to remain free of that and what an asset you will be Jennifer in supporting both patients and staff at work full time.
A great timing to come across this blog as I am considering going full time after 13 years of doing reduced hours/part-time work. Love your honesty in sharing your journey. It’s very inspiring.
It’s really interesting Jennifer, I have been through the same process in the past trying to change my hours to cope better with the stresses of the job. But when we feel into more detail about this, it’s quite obvious why it doesn’t work because we’ve not changed the energy we are in with the job, so it’s quite irrelevant however many hours we do it, it’s still the same stressful job. When we change how we are in the workplace, then the energy changes and we can work in much more harmony.
It’s so common to look at work as the thing that we ‘have’ to do rather than the thing that we want to do in order to serve our community. If we are thinking of nothing but ourselves then work can be dissatisfying. But if we are aware of the bigger picture and what needs to be done for the true good of all then our work holds a purpose and becomes a joy. I know I can still fluctuate between the two, but the days when I am connected to the bigger picture are days that feel amazing and full of joy.
Working in Social Care I see many carers who are clearly exhausted and who push through their exhaustion in various ways. It seems to me that there is a strong desire to take care of others, but when it comes to looking after ourselves, we can easily be neglected. What I feel sure is true though, is that when we combine self-care with our care of others, the quality of what we bring has so much more integrity and this can be felt in the experience of those being supported.
Thank you for this Jennifer. Since learning to have a period of wind down before bed, the quality of my sleep has deepened significantly. I almost never lay awake with a head full of thoughts and get off to sleep much more quickly than I once did. This alone has made a huge difference to how I feel but coupled with other things like not drinking coffee and eating more lightly means life has been transformed. This all helps with being more fully present at work and enjoying work more too.
Jennifer thank you so much for your great sharing. I was not aware that so many nurses are feeling like you have described. What you have found out and how you have changed your way of living is therefore very inspirational and I am wondering if this being more caring and supportive for oneself and for the body is not a good program for all the others nurses around you?
I really appreciated Jennifer how you described looking at all the aspects that may have contributed to exhaustion. Not only the hours you worked or the quality of your movements, but also the stimulants like coffee that you took to temporarily allow you to maintain function but in reality only added or masked the depletion that was occurring.
Honouring what our bodies communicate to us does indeed allow for us to live fully in life without being so affected or drained by what is occurring.
So instead of constructing more rules to follow in order to avoid exhaustion at work Jennifer, I understand that you listen more directly to your body and this allows you to respond much more effectively and be more supportive around what your body needs.
It seems so logical to link being exhausted from work because of the amount of work we perform. However what you have so beautifully exposed Jennifer is it is really about the quality that we bring to work that allows it to be tiring or effortless. From there we can become entrenched in beliefs and ideals that are not energetically true and allow the drain of life energy to continue.
Thank you Jennifer your blog brought up a great point for me about working and retiring, because the body enjoys and loves to work, and when it gets to retirement the key is to carry on at a slightly slower pace if the body needs to, which means we never really stop putting the body to work.
There is often a thought out there that money is so important and in fact the most important but as this blog shows this isn’t true in fact we place equal importance and at times more importance on other things, “But I had to pay the bills, so I worked only as much as I had to: the result being that I financially struggled through life. But I was willing to put up with that, so long as I didn’t have to work too much.” If money and the ‘security’ was the be and end all why would you work this way. This shows there is much more going on around us then we think.
I really think it is amazing that so many people have literally done a 180 degree turnabout of their lives, if I was a government minister I would want to know what students of the livingness were doing that was so different to the average persons way of living as it really is remarkable how the quality of life has become so much more ready to contribute fully to their work and family, community life.
For me work has got a new meaning after living and following Universal Medicine courses and presentation. Years ago when I just started to work, it was all about recognition and trying to feel important by the work that I would do. This is extremely exhausting because it takes you further away from the true being you naturally are. With Looking at work in a way that I can learn and explore more of who I already am and being able to connect with people offering each other reflections, I can feel a bigger purpose to working.
It is hard to explain the level of productivity I have begun to live with, without a sense of drive or any stimulants to push me. Like you are sharing Jennifer, it is largely due to the presentations of Universal Medicine and a way of living that is much more in harmony with how our bodies naturally function, thrive and work.
“I have an immense appreciation for Serge Benhayon and all that he presents and lives, which has been an endless source of inspiration to me.” Once again I can only agree wholeheartedly, since meeting Serge Benhayon my attitude and relationship to work has done a complete turn about…..I used to think work was an imposition….. now I don’t even see it as work as it has actually become a joy ‘BEING’ in the world with people.
“I now know how to support and care myself in a way that will definitely support me to remain in full-time work for a long time to come.” This sentence feels true for me also Jennifer, after not working for many years I now love going to work, and having learnt how to care and support myself I can see myself working well into my 70’s.
This beautifully shows that we do not have to try to avoid or escape from situations which can cause stress but understand them and live from a foundation of love which enables us to work in them without being affected and taking them on.
Connecting to the true quality within us is the key as we then realise that it is the way/quality that we choose to go to work with and move in that creates the issues and disharmony.
I find work truly enjoyable, but in fact as I start to write this I realise that the name ‘work’ is a bit of a misleading thing in the way it is referred to today – as work can be anything we do where we bring our skills in life and our natural expression to the job at hand
This blog is massively important because it highlights the exhaustion and the despondency that many of us are living with today. And also, what Jennifer Smith shares with us is how the power to transform our lives, actually lives with us, we can make choices that make changes that affect everyone – because now Jennifer is back out in the world again, she is an inspiration just by turning up for work each day.
Lovely how you find not only walking as a supporting activity for you after a shift, but that you also feel into your body what kind of walk it actually needs. That shows the detail of attention to the body and the choices we make which lead to more vitally or drainage.
I had worked part-time as a teacher for 8 years under the belief that I would have more energy for other things in my life. When I was ready to go back to full time work I was amazed to feel that I actually had more energy than ever before as I felt the deeper commitment to going back and the purpose of what I was doing.
‘I have an immense appreciation for Serge Benhayon and all that he presents and lives, which has been an endless source of inspiration to me.’ – Hear , hear, Jennifer, what I have learnt from Serge Benhayon has not only helped the vitality in my body, it has transformed my relationship and approach to work . . I love it in a way that I never had before, I can see the purpose and joy in what I do.
“But I had to pay the bills, so I worked only as much as I had to: the result being that I financially struggled through life.” Been there got the T-shirt! What a turn around to be embracing full time employment after such a burn out, feeling in charge of your working life and full of beans again. It is miraculous what you can achieve when you start to respond to rather than over-ride the messages from your body. Going to bed early, changing what we eat, taking gentle steady exercise, cutting out the negative thoughts and conversations provides us with a strong platform of self care that underpins all our other activities. You are living proof that we can do demanding jobs and still feel vital and well through supporting ourselves to the hilt with a strong regime of self care.
This is really amazing Jennifer, you go against the trend of reducing work when becoming older and or working longer in nursing. This proves that what is happening on the work floor is all about a perception, the perception that the work is too hard and that you cannot sustain a full time job for a long period of time. This perception is not from the honesty of the body, but from the deceitful mind.
If I go into anxiousness or drive at work, I feel absolutely shattered in the evening and don’t necessarily sleep well. When I remaining calm and present, attending to what is needed, my body may still feel tired at the end but I feel vital inside, sleep well and feel great the next day. How we choose to be in every moment, affects the next.
Work in itself is not a problem. It is all the emotional baggage associated with it that we struggle to deal with – both our own and that of others.
What I have discovered it is the way in which I work, the quality, that would leave me either feeling tired or exhausted at the end of a day or not. I once believed I had to work hard to be giving my all in a job, but this is not true and is exhausting as it is pushing the body beyond its natural rhythm. Working with a quality of connection with myself improves the quality of the work itself, and I am not left feeling drained. I now do not need the coffee as I once did as fuel to get me through the day.
I recently encountered a very stressful period at work which for some time really started to get on top of me – was fundamental to changing this to understand that I was living from the outside in i.e. trying to be a way in accordance to what was happening around me at work. It was only once I realised, with some loving support, that the key is to live the other way round, from the inside out that my experience of this period changed. If we stay connected to who we really are we are able to deal with the situations we encounter in life without being unduly affected by them.
Wonderful, Jennifer, that you are now ‘relishing’ the opportunity to be working full time in your job at the hospital. How great it will be for all the patients you are working with, such a loving, caring approach that you will now bring to the job.What a great healing you will bring to all you are in contact with.
I have noticed that the students of Universal Medicine that I know have all become more responsible over the time that I have known them. My own view on responsibility has also changed and I am finding that I am really enjoying being part of the community and doing voluntary work that I had not done for some time. I also feel I have more energy.
I love your sharing Jennifer, this is so easy to relate to and also allows others to take their steps to a more nurturing and loving way of living.
To know how to support and care for ourselves in a way that honours the body’s communications and needs is such a great learning that will forever accompany all our lived expressions, if we so allow it to.
“… my body is a wonderful teacher. It really does tell me everything I need to know and understand about how I am living, the choices that I am making, and that I can always make new choices that are more caring and supportive for myself and my body.” I can so confirm this for myself too. Having learnt to truly listen and observe my body, and even this I can and am practicing to refine more and more, I feel so much more vitality and vibrancy, within as well as in my lived expression. And when something occurs that may dull this for moment, I lovingly allow myself to choose anew, having understood and felt the communication from my body.
I love this Jennifer – it is such an important key and one I also notice in my work too, it works really well for me too: “The key here is how I went for a walk and how I went to bed. When I walked, I walked in a way that was how my body wanted to walk.”
I know that if I don’t look after myself then everything from just getting up in the morning compounds my ill choices. I could blame work but I know that when I was unemployed and wasn’t under financial stress I was still stressed- just one task in the day and was too much.
So what I really so stressed about? All the beliefs and ideals I let run me. So unemployed I was stressed because I couldn’t find work and I wanted to avoid all the negative beliefs I had around being unemployed. When in work I can get stressed by believing it’s all too much. I now see this is avoiding bringing quality to what I do by looking after myself. Thanks to Universal Medicine teachings I no longer want to escape, I look to how I can support myself rather than give up.
It is true, Karin, when we make lots of choices that are not good for us it gets harder and harder for us to work. Surprisingly, once we go the other way, it is quite amazing what we can then do even with a history that is not great.
‘But I had to pay the bills, so I worked only as much as I had to: the result being that I financially struggled through life. But I was willing to put up with that, so long as I didn’t have to work too much’. This statement I feel sums up the lives and attitudes of many who have given up on life and on themselves. Quite often thinking that it is the work that is the problem many can be in denial that the problem rests with relationship to, and commitment with, self. This level of depression, because it is not extreme, is accepted and can be lived with for years. What a beautiful confirmation that “the way I care and nurture myself has supported me in such a way that I am now back in full-time work again, and I’m loving it.” ironically making life about self nurture first supports with making life not about self as there is more of you to spread around in the support of others!
I have experienced feeling more energised from committing more to work too.
This is a great testimonial to Universal Medicine, as when we start to honour and care for our bodies there is more vitality and joy and how we express in life becomes no longer about self but what is needed for the benefit of all.
Wow Jennifer, this is a whole new approach to nursing – and to shift work – that so many could benefit from, and it is so simple “…I just acknowledged what my body was feeling and worked in a way where I did not push myself. Within a short period of time I was no longer tired after work and had plenty of energy to complete my days, even if I was working late.”. I’m inspired to bring this into how I am with my work throughout the day – thank you.
“About 3 years into my nursing career I was finding it all a bit overwhelming so I began to cut my hours down.” This is such a common story in nursing the so called “caring” profession that does not care for or value itself. This is so inspiring that you have been able to support yourself to return to full time work Jennifer, yet it continues to be a blight on the profession that nurses rarely receive the support they require in their workplace.
‘I am relishing the opportunity of being back in full-time work.’ When we feel this way about our work, everyone we come into contact with benefits.
I am at an age where many people are cutting back the hours they work or counting the weeks until they can retire. They share that they are exhausted and feel they have ‘done’ their bit and it is now time to stop and have time for themselves. I totally understand this feeling as a few years ago I felt the same. However, as I began to take more care of myself I have found I have more energy for work and have enjoyed it more, to the point I am now working more hours than I ever have. It is through Serge Benhayon and attending Universal Medicine events that I have been constantly inspired to live a life with care and love for myself and others at the centre. When we choose to do this our lives and the lives of others do change, naturally so.
I know many people who would benefit greatly, financially, physically, mentally and emotionally, if they found ways to deal with what is stopping them to work in their fullness. It sounds obvious but seeing so many is quite a strong experience.
We tend to blame work as being the source of our tiredness and in my experience it can certainly be. But there are two levels of tiredness that we can feel, one is physical which is to be expected from loads of work anyway, and the other is internal exhaustion. The internal exhaustion is the one we all need to take responsibility for as it does not come from the work we do per se but rather from how we are in the work in the first place.
When we stop full time work to work part time because of the stress and the fatigue we need to recognise that this is related to our way of living everyday not just in the workplace. As you have shown Jennifer, if we lovingly reconnect back to ourselves anything is possible and we can still be very loving and energised even when we work full-time!
There was a point that I had such a negative relationship with work and the fact that I found it exhausting, but help for me came in the form of a handful of sessions with Miranda Benhayon, who helped me to see that the way I was thinking about work was adding to my inability to find work and to stay in a job. I can honestly say that having now been in full time work for two years I have learnt and grown so much from being in work than I ever did sitting at home watching the TV or gardening. Learning to deal with situations and people on a daily basis and saying yes instead of no has been a God send.
Nursing can be a hugely taxing profession – where often the nurses are just as sick with exhaustion, depression and given up as the patients. What you’re offering is the possibility that there is more, another way to be with nursing that doesn’t have to be so disconnected from our bodies, and that in ourselves we will find all the tools we need to work full time and love it.
Jennifer, how you have described yourself with Nursing is exactly how I felt with teaching. Through overwhelm and fatigue I decided to reduce my hours and teach part-time for about eight years. With the presentations of Serge Benhayon I began to look at how I was living and the choices that I was making and returned to full-time work three years ago. I love what I do despite the challenges and have never felt better in the classroom.
It is wonderful to have this appreciation and zest for working life. Many see it a a chore, as a drain, when in truth it should be, and can be, as equally enjoyable and nourishing as any other part of our lives.
I find it amazing that Serge Benhayon finds a way to present that allows us to come to our own conclusions in our own time. No imposition, no pressure, no ideals, no judgements.
Jennifer, reading the word ‘relishing’ in your title made me feel how incredible it would be to either work with you or be nursed by you. For a person to ‘relish’ their job adds a depth to what they do that it not possible to quantify.
This is a beautiful appreciation of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine teaching us the true way we can live with commitment love and connection to who we are amazing all the way.
I was just reading about exhaustion and how self reflection (honesty), self care and our daily choices are the start of bringing ourselves out of exhaustion, and reflecting on and appreciating how this too has been my experience. The proof of the pudding is here again in your words and experience Jennifer “the choices I am now making and how the way I care and nurture myself has supported me in such a way that I am now back in full-time work again, and I’m loving it.”
It’s an interesting lesson to truly listen to our bodies. There was a time where I thought I could do what I wanted and get away with it or care and listen a little bit and get away with the rest but to truly surrender to what my body is telling me is the key to being vital.
When I returned to full-time work, after become a part-timer in life, the first thing I had to face was overwhelm. I had learned how to avoid situations that showed me how much I used and identified with overwhelm. It was such an old pattern so it has taken quite some time understand and realise that overwhelm is no different to any other emotion. And that emotions and re-actions (such as overwhelm) are ultimately used to avoid responsibility. In re-action and therefore the dis-connection from ourselves we can not feel what is there to truly respond to and instead generally end up in a stressed out flap that gets us no-where.
Interesting – no matter how much we try, we cannot escape our body’s response to the choice we are making. It is quite fascinating that your body was still exhausted after only small doses of work – and now, with your renewed choices and self care, full time work is actually enjoyable. While reading this I realised how much I love to work too, and felt more inspired to bump up the self care in honour of my service at work.
Congratulations Jennifer – now the world gets all of you and the amazing service you offer any patient in care.
I think we can often underestimate the power of a walk and also taking time out for as little as 10 minutes a day and just simply connecting back to our breath and remembering that we actually have a body that requires our attention that dangles below our head. I know I can certainly forget this, and before long I’m wondering why I’m struggling to cope.
Isn’t it cool to realise that we haven’t been properly taught how to look after ourselves? And then when you realise you’ve been doing it all wrong, ie: taking on other peoples stuff which is by far the biggest drainer of all time….you have this awesome opportunity to start reestablishing new habits that actually do support you!!
I too was oblivious as to how I was choosing to live my days and how this totally affects how I feel at the end of the day. Thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I am aware of what I am now choosing now and how everything is energy, the way I walk, the way I talk, what I think, the way I move, absolutely everything I do comes with a quality. When I connect and live with Love I feel absolute Joy in everything and situations that used to be stress-full are now opportunities to express who I am and skills that I can bring.
For many years I lived with that Sunday evening feeling, the one where you dreaded work on Monday morning. It felt like such a struggle to make it through to the end of the week. Now I hardly differ between days when I am working and days when I am not because it is not about want I am doing that matters but the way I am doing it.
Jennifer, what is great is how you have turned your life around and actually engaging more in life rather than withdrawing from it.
When I am not fully engaged with work throughout my day I end up having incessant distracting thoughts and worries and I do not do well at staying present. I love to be busy but not racy, to be busy, present and spacious is glorious.
I am used to hearing people complain about their experience of work on pretty much a daily basis. The highlight of many people’s week seems to be Friday because there is only one day to go before the weekend!
This blog is a wonderful reflection of the personal responsibility we can each take to ensure the quality and experience we have at work is one that we and others can ‘relish’.
“What I found was that no matter how many hours I worked I would still feel overrun by work stress.” This is so revealing isn’t it and I know the feeling. Wanting to do less and less yet finding myself to my own frustration actually feeling more miserable than before. I learned that it was my reactions to situations that made my work so exhausting plus how I did not always honour myself in my job. I am not perfect at it and still get tired but I am enjoying it very much now.
Many people have told me the best time of my life when i look back will be at school, and most of the time this stems from the fact that once you leave school you have to begin working, mostly full time and it is something that you don’t have to worry about at school. Why is it that we dislike the one thing we all do in life and that is work.
“About 3 years into my nursing career I was finding it all a bit overwhelming so I began to cut my hours down.” – to do so sounds so logical, does it not? But what if it is not how much we work but how we work? What if the energy that impulses us is the key to exhaustion or refreshment? More and more we as a society have the tendency to withdraw from life instead of take this ‘bull’ by the horns and ride this life with power and joy.
Universal Medicine does present a way of living against this trend – and I very much appreciate that. .
I find working really energizing, it is all about how I approach it, if I am resistant to what I have to do that takes up a lot of energy and I get drained but if I find a place within me where I can enjoy it, it is very vitalizing and I am constantly in the mood for ‘what is next?’ – it is like playing in the big world.
It is fascinating how we can get so trapped by thinking we need coffee to get through the day, whilst really it impairs our body more in its function than it actually supports it.
This is another testimonial of the success that Universal Medicine truly is and it is so simple, it is easy and it is fun. Makes you wonder why there is still so much struggle in the world.
When I want to work part time, it shows that life is about me and what I want, instead of looking at life in a bigger picture and what is needed.
By committing to full-time work we are making a firm commitment to life. I too of late have taken on more work with a new job as well as running my own business and I have found that although I am working longer hours sometimes from early morning into the evening, I have more energy than when I worked less. I know my body loves to work as long as it is in a quality where I stay connected.
This is a beautiful “success” story Jennifer and one that can be replicated easily as the changes that you made are so simple.
It’s so easy to fall into believing that we need to reduce our work load in order to care for ourselves. But it is possible to care for ourselves enough to be able to do a full time job. In fact my full time job has enabled me to learn how to take care of myself.
Getting to know our bodies more means that we naturally honour how we feel more, this is how self-care and self-nurturing has worked for me. There has been a natural development, not trying or pushing, an honouring has resulted in my health improving and feeling much more alive and well. That is why building a relationship with our bodies is so supportive.
I have found walking everyday very supportive. If in anyway i am not feeling myself, you know grumpy, a bit hard, low, I walk, if I am feeling me, great, steady, fall of love and stillness, walking really supports me also, it confirms it. Walking is deeply supportive, with no purpose other to be with yourself. 10 minutes of our days walking, or more, is an awesome gift to give yourself. You can feel your body flow, and get to know it more deeply.
A wonderful testimony of self care and self nurturing, we keep the glass full and we have something to truly offer, we let ourselves run low and what we have to share is depleted. As a woman and nurse, it is wonderful that you now reflect to choices to self-care and honour your body. That is a wonderful and inspiring reflection for those you meet to feel.
Through the inspiration of Universal Medicine courses, discussing the possibilities of the choice of self-care, I have also deeply improved my general vitality and feeling of well being. I have children, a business that I run with my husband, along side training and keeping the house feeling good and making space for ourselves and each other. Lots happens in our lives. There is not perfection, but I know that I have deeply supported myself and others through building self-care and self-nurturing in to my daily life.
I am working with people as well and I have the feeling what is draining me most are my own ideals and beliefs. To expose those supports me to go into deeper connection with myself and with the people I am working with. A true union can happen and then I do not feel drained but supported.
A true connection, This week I treated 21 people on a massage taster day for work, it was straight through other than a 15 minute break. I felt amazing when I finished, my body was tired but in a way that it naturally would be after work, but it wasn’t exhausted or aching and I felt vital and ready to continue my day. “A true union can happen and then I do not feel drained but supported.” Being connected with myself and others deeply supported how the day went on all levels.
Yes, after my ideals and beliefs it is absorbing the emotions of others.
This is an amazing testimonial to Universal Medicine and our ability to make our own choices in, and take responsibility for, our lives. And that by doing this we do not have to blindly follow into the many stereotypes that abound: exhausted health care worker, burnt out teacher, frazzled parent etc. We can thrive in our chosen careers.
It is usually not our work that causes stress, but our relationship with work that manufactures the stress yet we tend to blame it on the work we do.
I can so relate to what you share here Jennifer… when we appreciate and value ourselves so much can change not only in our own world but also in others lives as they see and feel how we are and are inspired to also make positive changes. However there is a responsibility that needs to be taken for all our past choices as well as our current choices, and the more nurses take responsibility for making loving choices the more inspired patients and other staff are also going to be to do the same. As nurses we come into contact with so many people – all of whom can be inspired by how we are in our own lives and in our work, and perhaps this will start a groundswell of much needed culture change in health generally.
I can remember back to when my children were young and I didn’t work at all. My days always seemed to be so busy. Even when they started going to pre-school, I still remember not having any free time. When I started working again, after many years, I wondered how I would ‘fit’ everything in, however, I’ve noticed that when I make a commitment to something, time seems to expand. Maybe I become more efficient in the time I have, not from a doing, rather from an allowing. Feeling into what there is to do in that moment and not worrying about things that can wait. This learning has been a real joy, something I have had to work on, confronting old patterns and learning to trust in myself and my body.
‘I thought that I could reduce the toll on my body caring for sick people at all hours if I only worked part-time’ ….. I’m sure a lot of people would still feel the same way …. however, as you so clearly show, the toll on our body actually comes from our dismissal of it and it’s innate wisdom. We think we know best and very often, we totally ignore what our bodies are trying to communicate to us, which is our first mistake, after all, they should know how they truly feel! When we’re tired we may think we must be working too much, however, it’s the lack of connection with our bodies, our refusal to listen to what our bodies are sharing with us and our lack of care and support for ourselves, in the way we are living that is the real issue and the reason we feel the way we do when we’re tired. Perhaps it’s also the way we are when we’re at work, maybe allowing ourselves to take on other people’s stuff, energy that isn’t ours and it’s incredibly draining in our bodies.
Coffee and TV are 2 things in society that nearly everyone uses. They so common place that most do not question them. But their impact on our lives is substantial yet sneaky.
This is beautiful and ground breaking. I’m sure in your profession Jennifer and in shift work and general there is much exhaustion and similar feelings to what you have experienced. We are capable of so much when we care for ourselves in very simple ways. It is not rocket science at all but something very simple.
In a profession that has evidence of the result of choices and the impact they have on our lives I find it interesting that all nurses are not leading by example, well done for bringing the quality of living to be the reflection.
I am 67 and work an almost full time as a property manager in a real estate office dealing with people from all walks of life who are looking for a home. Moving is a very stressful time and it is so appreciated when they are treated with genuine care. The nature of my job provides me with countless opportunities to learn and grow whilst serving others and I have a growing appreciation of the huge difference that true service can make in people’s lives. I love what I do and have no plans to retire – all thanks to the teachings and inspiration of Serge Benhayon.
The more one works and the more responsibility one takes the greater ones commitment to life the more energy one has. A beautiful sharing very inspiring and full of purpose for one’s life.
I used to work looking forward to the next holiday, not appreciating the work that I was doing and not bringing myself to my work but find all kinds of ways to not be present and get it over with. I used to have headaches at the end of the day, because this attitude towards work is so draining. Now I can enjoy what I do and all the people I meet and this gives me so much more energy.
The way of our Livingness says it all no matter what our job or work hours are. You have demonstrated here how it is possible to work in a demanding environment and enjoy and not be drained by your job. When we listen to our bodies and respect the messages they offer us and change our life style by deepening our self-love amazing changes are possible.
By discovering what I bring to my work and how my work supports me in learning so much about myself, I could feel a change and now work is so much more than earning money to pay bills etc. It really doesn’t matter if it is a Friday or a Monday, now that working feels the same as all the other things I do in life.
When self care is applied we discover that it was the missing key to mending many of our woes. It’s so simple yet one of the things we find the hardest. Beautiful blog Jennifer to show that it is us, and the way we choose to live that determines how we perceive our work life.
I too am working full time now for the first time since having children. And it is also a challenging environment. I can relate to all you have shared about the tiredness; but can concur too that taking the care in the quality of all I do, being less rushed, giving moments to pause and respond to what my body feels next to do has changed everything. I am less exhausted and just love the relationship I am having with myself experimenting all the time with this. Never perfect but oh what a difference my life is feeling.
What I feel here Jennifer are the benefits to the community and your work place, colleagues and patients – you have taken care of yourself and are now able to commit to benefitting others on a full time basis. Well done – amazing story.
The more I choose to work and just let myself be impulsed by Life, the more Life’s coming towards me. In ways that I actually never could have dreamt of. It’s in a smile, in something someone says, but also very tangible like in practical support for my garden, a tip for work that I did. Life’s actually fascinating and full of wonders, if I only but allow to let it in. I found that Appreciation of Life is key here. Without Appreciation, I can’t let in the wonders of Life!
Hi Jennifer this is a great blog, which shows that it’s actually nothing to do with the amount we work, but how we are with ourselves when we are working. When we support ourselves with rest, rehydration and some gentle exercise the body automatically responds by willingly being put to work.
It is a very relatable connection between the ‘supposed stressors’ of work being the reason we finish each day being exhausted and the level of care we offer and deliver to our bodies. It is all too easy to put the emphasis on our surrounds being the reason for how we feel, but more and more I discover how I treat and feel within myself is what I then reflect to my work place and everything else.
The exhaustion and tiredness many of us feel is undeniable and seemingly very ‘real’. Yet what you show Jennifer is what is keeping and sustaining it alive is the view that it is not right, that it is something we need to run from, eliminate and escape. For when we see it instead as our body communicating back to our head and giving us expert advice, tutoring on exactly how we bring Love and care to all we do, well then exhaustion is our greatest blessing and biggest friend. It is showing us the way, the door to living in a more loving and harmonious way, so whatever we do, let’s no ignore or run away and hide our heads in the sand.
When we approach work with dread and make it all about self it really is not surprising that we get so drained, because we see everything as sucking us dry and try to conserve and withhold – but all the while this hanging on drains us too. When we learn to self care and make that the focus everything starts to open up. We go to work imbued with a sense of purpose and service in all that we do and are – in this expansion we do not get drained and it becomes a pleasure to interact, engage and do for others. We then learn that to self care in truth is to care for others as everyone wins. Yes there are times when we get tired but this is very different from being drained and exhausted.
So often we have a very difficult relationship with work – we have to work to earn money, and then most of our money goes on coping with having to work, from holidays and nights out to comfort food and escapism. What your sharing is that we don’t need to have this attitude towards work – that we can in fact find joy and vitality in what we do.
Wow, I so appreciate this post Jennifer; totally speaks to me and confirms my own experience. I too had been feeling exhausted; unable to work for more than 15 hrs per week for years.. but now am working more and more and feeling stronger due to the self care and gentle ways I have been developing inspired by Serge Benhayon and the impeccable support of Universal Medicine.
When we listen to our bodies and start to make different choices in the way we nurture and support ourselves it naturally leads to a more vital way of living, affecting all we do…….listening to and acting on what the body tells us is the key.
Wonderful! I am working with my exhaustion and my work, not pushing, honoring where i am. Thank you !
What a great change for you Jennifer, and any other person returning to work after a couple of years off. It appears to be the way you approached your return to work by listening to yourself and lovingly being in the livingness of the Presentations of Serge Benhayon and the Ancient Wisdom.
Jennifer all roads seem to point back to the body. The body, the body, the body. The body is the only oracle that we ever need to consult, we simply need to keep coming back to it, time and time again.
Congratulations Jennifer on mastering this aspect of your life! Like you, I too have Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine to thank for so much. What I have realised is I would have never broken free of the prevailing norms – never found a different way to live and be – as I was so caught up in what I thought life was all about and how it should be lived. It takes someone who has broken free of the mould to show the way, and this Serge Benhayon has done with aplomb.
I have found TV to be an awareness-killer too. I recently started a ‘media diet’ of no radio or TV, using the time, usually in the car where I would listen to the radio, just driving and being with me, or maybe listening to some unimposing music. But the best times are when it’s just me and I allow myself to connect and feel my body and whatever’s going on. It feels like a great baseline to work from.
Coffee is now the go-to, socially acceptable drug of choice for so many people – a constant companion and even an accessory to carry around in the street. A decade or so ago it was cigarettes. And if it’s not coffee it’s sugar… and donuts and cronuts,,, and so on and on. We have a raft of ill-advised consumables to keep us afloat but the reality is they’re sinking us – and our health systems. We’d better have a lot of vital nurses like Jennifer on stand-by to cope with what’s coming!
‘…my body is a wonderful teacher.’ Oh yes it is. My body repeatedly showed me that how I was living and working was wrong for me – signals I steadfastly ignored. But the messages it receives we cannot pass us by: they will catch up with us. Hopefully we can get wise to the body’s wisdom well before we get a serious stop – an illness, condition or disease.
Much of what you have written here Jennifer I can relate to, as I retired myself from work for five years and although I did projects on the side I was still avoiding the overwhelm of working part time, but I found that the less I did the more withdrawn I became and relied too much on the TV for company – I was missing being with people. So I now know that it is healthier for me to be with people and working than it is to be staying at home believing I cannot cope with people and situations. Now I work full time for the first time in 20+ years and can see the value of working, everyday is another opportunity to grow and to face the situations I have been avoiding all of my life.
Then there is the opposite of what you describe Jennifer – chronically over-working instead of under-working and by that I mean pushing through the exhaustion, feeling overly-responsible to keep going at all costs and by whatever means possible – caffeine, cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, nervous system tension, adrenaline… No wonder so many of us have adrenal and endocrine conditions. Yes, whatever way we play it, the results are disastrous for our bodies.
Preparing for sleep is so critical. I don’t work late shifts but I am aware if I need to work later on a particular night and do everything I can to prepare for it, before and after. This means, for example, making sure I do not have an early morning meeting the next day and that the night before I have a very quiet night. It makes a world of difference to be so prepared. It is very self-honouring!
It is incredible the difference it makes when we take care of ourselves – ending up prepared for all that lies ahead of us, rather than struggling to keep up with life.
‘…I was allowing myself to be affected by what was going on in the workplace’. Yes – I’ve come to understand we absorb what goes on around us (until we learn not to) and that this has a very toxic effect on the body, like ingesting poison. Learning how to be fit for work – and indeed all of life – should include awareness-raising of this phenomenon.
Jennifer, what you write sounds really obvious and simple – that makes it so amazing. What you do simply works and anybody can do it. In theory. Yet, you are clearly one of only a very few who are doing this.
Jennifer I can so relate to what you have written, ‘I now know how to support and care myself in a way that will definitely support me to remain in full-time work for a long time to come.’ I am now starting to work much more again and this feels amazing, I find that it is important for me to not get overwhelmed, rush or think about all I have to do; that I need to look after myself; listen to when my body is tired and not push my body by carrying heavy things for work, if I stay calm and steady then working much more is a joy.
It is an amazing achievement to return to full time nursing after such a burn out and to be enjoying your work again. So many people take up nursing because of a genuine care of humanity, but become severely affected by the stresses of the job. Your experience makes me realise that teaching nurses and doctors how to self care is an important part of their training, it should be automatically included in curriculum.
It is amazing how life blossoms when we simply attend to the practical things of life in conscious presence! Work blossoms, relationships blossom, we feel vital and able to contribute.
I have found that working gives structure to my day and gets me out in the world with the rest of humanity. When I was unemployed for a while, I became withdrawn and even though I had more time on my hands, days slipped away and I would put things off that ended up never getting done. To be honest its clear to me that we all need to work, not just to pay the bills, but for our well-being.
You have opened the floodgates Jennifer for the voices of nurses and medical professionals everywhere. There are only Band-Aids applied to this grave problem by management. There have been some interesting groups that have started with esoteric students that work in the medical field to offer treatments to co-workers and how self-care is the first vital step in addressing the stress that abounds in the profession. The longest journey always starts with the first step.
Jennifer, what your blog reflects to us is that when we begin to make loving choices to nurture ourselves and pay heed to our bodies what a difference it can make to all areas of our lives, including our working one’s. From what I observe around me, many people are either longing for retirement, planning their next holiday or wanting to change jobs because of feeling exhausted, run-down or just plain bored. I’ve been there myself, blaming the outside for my levels of exhaustion, when the reality is, it is our lifestyle choices that make the difference, so thank-you for so eloquently sharing your own lifestyle choices, and your choice to go back to work full-time which may inspire many to look at their own lifestyle choices.
This is such an inspiring account, Jennifer, and goes against the tide with regards to the choices nurses make about their working hours, as you say. It is a great example of how Universal Medicine has supported thousands of people to turn their lives around, to live in a way never imagined possible, embracing life and work in full.
At the beginning of your article it was all about survival and making ends meet and at the end there is an amazing sense of the opportunities that lie ahead and the space and inspiration in every day. Thank you, Jennifer.
I love all you have shared Jen, the conundrum of how to work at nursing full time and not be crushed by the demand or stress, and how learning self care and listening to your body has not just allowed you to resume full time nursing, but to enjoy it!
Very inspiring and confirming blog Jennifer. I used to work full-time nursing and suffered from anxiousness and adrenal exhaustion because of it. So I cut down to part-time work. Over the last few years since putting into practise what Serge Benhayon teaches e.g letting our body give us the wisdom we need to become aware of what is supporting us and what is not, I am now feeling more vital and have been able to work shift-work without feeling drained at the end of the shift. I have learnt to support me first and foremost and build this into my daily rhythm. I can then take better care of others.
The Way of the Livingness speaks for itself. People are returning first and foremost to themselves, growing in vitality, living and enjoying life to the full and returning rejuvenated to work in industries where there are high levels of burn out, stress and fatigue. There is much to be celebrated here.
There is so much lived wisdom in your blog Jennifer which covers so many areas that it would be impossible for anyone not to find some part within it that they can relate to. For me, it has shone a beautiful light of appreciation on just how much my relationship with work has changed over the years thanks to putting into practise the simple and practical yet quite extraordinary teachings of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
I am very inspired by what you share here Jennifer. Work stress has a huge impact on us and your experience shows that this stress cannot be dealt with through avoidance. Thank you for reminding me that the best way to deal with stress is to commit to myself and my purpose.
There was a point in the blog Jennifer where you were relating how much being in reaction to what is going on at work is draining, as you stated how staying with your body was not so easy at work and I sensed this to be about going through a process of learning not to react to what is going on there – as an RN I remember the craziness on wards due to short staffing and almost having to run to get things done. So learning to stay with our bodies and not react saves an enormous amount of energy and then offers the vitality and quality of movement to drop into a more tender, sensitive way of being to then make more loving choices from our bodies. This message is well received, thank you.
It’s so refreshing to hear you speak about how much you love work now Jen. Work is such a significant part of our lives, that not enjoying it can be absolutely torturous.
It sounds like your commitment to yourself has super boosted your commitment to work and everything else in your life; thus relinquishing the ‘issues’ that once stood in the way of you living what was possible. It’s amazing how much energy commitment can give us – whereas lack thereof will always leave us feeling drained and feeling like commitment is difficult, when it’s quite the opposite.
What I find amazing is that no matter how long we stay at work, or what holiday we just had, we can feel awful, it goes to show that it’s nothing to do with the length of time we are at work, but everything to do with the energy we are aligned to while we are there.
Jennifer I agree with all you share as I too used to work part-time as I felt my job was too hard on my body with the long shift hours I did. I only returned to full-time work over 4 years ago, at first I was quite unsure of my decision and how I would cope as in the past I would often get sick and feel exhausted from the shift work and the long hours I worked. Much to my surprise I embraced full time work and I now love my job more than ever. The difference now was that I lived in a way that supported my body to do this job and to not burn out, the self-care principles taught by Serge Benhayon have been the cornerstone to this amazing change in my life.
Truly caring for ourselves supports us to give back more to life and other people. We have to look after ourselves if we are to be able to consistently look after others. Thanks Jennifer for sharing the inspiring changes that you’ve made.
This is well needed blog, I hear so many nurses going through what you have experienced. Just the other day I had a nurse and was saying the same can’t wait to retire or cut hours back, when I asked how many days she worked, she said 3 times 12 hr shifts at night, this is enough to put someone into exhaustion as she shared you never really get proper rest.
‘What I was feeling and observing in my body was key to the choices I was making’ – I loved your choice to start to observe your body and make choices that whilst taking discipline, were more loving of ‘you’. There are so many ‘ways’ to live that I have grown up believing were nurturing and giving the body a chance to regenerate like checking out with food, watching TV, laying around in bed etc, that are not true. The moment I chose to take on the messages of exhaustion my body was communicating to me was the day the choices I started to make that affected my body and lifestyle changed. It is simple, just as you have shared. Our body holds so much wisdom and the day I realised that it was my body that carried the loving choices and not my head (thoughts) was the day my whole understanding of wellbeing changed – thanks Jennifer for sharing.
Thanks for sharing Jen, I can so relate to a lot that you have shared, but for me it wasn’t nursing it was just work in general and I had a real strong belief about not getting caught in the 9-5 rat race and yet now I have chosen to work from 8.30 – 5, 5 days a week and I love going to work. I love the rhythm, the consistency, the stability with having a regular wage, the opportunity to save and to do things and not be stuck in the poverty conciousness and most of all, I love being with and interacting with people in society. Yes, I have had to adjust and it took a couple of weeks of being tired, and finding my way and how to best support myself, when to cook, shop, prepare meals and do all the other things I do but 7 weeks later and I am in the swing of it all and have no complaints what so ever, just appreciation.
I can so relate to just working enough to pay the bills and get by and choosing to stay there, thinking I was smart because I didn’t work full time and that I had a lifestyle. Looking back on those choices, it was not much of a lifestyle as I was in constant struggle, constantly raiding the coin jar, counting up the last gold coins to make ends meet and feeling jealous of those who had this or that or could go on holiday.
I have recently started full time work in addition to running my business, being a solo parent and studying for a diploma as well as being involved in many other projects and at first I wondered how I would be able to do it all…. but I do it all and I love every moment of it. If you had asked me to do this much 7 years ago I would have never imagined it possible but these days I actually love working and making a difference in peoples lives.
It was interesting that you found when you found it overwhelming you cut down your hours more and more until you had only a few shifts a fortnight and it still felt too much. I have noticed that most of us tend to have this romantic idea that the less we commit to work the better we will feel, yet I too have had the opportunity to cut down my time of working several times and it has never resulted in greater satisfaction for long – I have just become less productive. Yet now that I have understood the quality with which I live and work makes a difference to myself, colleagues, clients and everyone touched by the service provided, work has a totally different meaning. And knowing that it is up to me to take care of my body and live in a way that supports me to deal with everything that work entails makes a great deal of sense and puts responsibility and power back in my own hands.
“This can be challenging when at work, but I just acknowledged what my body was feeling and worked in a way where I did not push myself.” My work environments have been rich grounds for learning, growing and deepening also. And particularly so as I’m discovering that it is possible to move my body in a way throughout my day that actually energises, invigorates and supports it, rather than draining and taxing it as has been the case for so many years, even within busy, high pressure environments. What previously seemed impossible, I too am now a living example of the possible thanks to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings as presented by Serge Benhayon.
There is much benefit in committing to life and working with purpose. This can’t be done if we don’t support ourselves and it is lovely to read this blog about how you have developed ways of supporting yourself Jennifer such that you are able to work full time.
The more we listen to and honour the messages from our bodies the more we become in tune with our natural way of being. The more in tune we become with our natural way of being the more vitality and joy we experience.
It feels to me that stress is an inside job which can be sorted by connecting to ourselves in a more loving and nurturing way and it is not really about the number of hours we work or how much we have to fit into a day. What you have shared here, Jennifer, illustrates this beautifully.
It is great to read how those beliefs around working part time just dropped away as you took deeper care of yourself.
‘I also observed that when I watched TV I could easily ignore those tired signals, whereas when I do not watch TV, I more easily check into what my body is saying, and honour it.’ I have had exactly the same experience. It is crazy how common it is to ignore the signals from our bodies – why has it come to this, what is it actually we think we gain by overriding what our body is telling us is wrong?
We are capable of so much more when we learn to nurture and develop our relationship with ourselves! After all it is the only guaranteed long term one we have!
We are really quite capable, extremely capable actually, when we just allow ourselves to be.
This is a great blog as it speaks to the epidemic of exhaustion that is experienced widely in so many industries that is being accepted as part of life and something we need to manage our lives around. What you have shared here are some beautiful simple and fundamental changes that have transformed your energy levels and quality of life. Brilliant.
So very true Jennifer, our bodies are the most wise and wonderful teacher there is.
So often we lay blame on factor outside of ourselves – our work, our colleagues, our relationships – as the sources of our stress, tension and unhappiness but what I loved about reading this blog is that it illustrates how making simple changes in our relationship with ourselves, has a massive impact on how we relate to the world around us. Very practical and very inspiring!
Seeing work as a process of mastery and understanding brings a whole different approach. I have often thought, mastering work could be a relatively simple task, but there are a lot of complications we let get in the way, when I know work can be joyful, fulfilling and enriching.
I agree Harry – I have been looking at why I often go and over-eat after finishing my work shift and I realized I wander off into my head at work becoming invested in the ‘goals’ of what I am doing when it is not necessary for me to do this. Today I had two spiders appear within minutes of each other, I sort of ignored the first one and just got shocked so another more horrible one turned up within a few minutes, so I had to pause and consider what I was doing as this had never happened before – and I saw how I was complicating a very simple situation and how awful I was really feeling in that state as well.
Its obvious that the lifestyle techniques presented by Universal Medicine certainly work in increasing vitality, confidence and overall wellbeing and this is all evident in you returning to full time work Jennifer.
What a great blog Jennifer. I can relate to it all having done the same thing myself in fairly recently returning to full-time work. When we have built a loving rhythm and routine for ourselves then we have a true foundation and it is on this foundation that we can do something new.
I have found the same Jennifer, it is not the amount of hours we work, but how we are at work during those hours. Moving in stress and under pressure, and it becomes exhausting and very draining. From the presentations of Serge Benhayon, I became aware of the quality in which I was living that was draining me, how I was at work and at home, in fact how I treated myself in every moment, was what was dragging me down into chronic ill-health conditions. From simple steps of choosing the quality of connection and honouring what my body is telling me, my whole life is transforming.
Longing for retirement. These three words reminded me that it was something I longed for back in my twenties. Imagine that! Thirty years later, I now see the value in the job I do and actually don’t like the idea of stopping work. It could be that the job I do changes, but I am looking forward to being productive and making a contribution to my community for as long as I’m physically able. This is quite a remarkable turnaround that has come about since I have made self care a priority.
What you’re sharing is huge for many people – work is a big part of every person’s life and yet our relationship with it is often as something we wish we didn’t have to do, and something we can’t wait to be doing, living for the weekend or the next holiday. But what if work doesn’t have to be this way?
It is a valuable exercise I think Jennifer to look at all the different ways we find ourselves drained of energy and then use stimulants or activities to artificially give us energy all the while we are just depleting our bodies.
It is so easy to overlook the level of presence we hold when working or performing any task and blame the nature of the work as what is draining. I am forever refining and bringing more of me to each moment knowing that is more than enough and then I find I don’t tend to take on emotions or situations so much and are much less drained. What a beautiful awareness that you have shared Jennifer, thank you.
Jennifer I had an experience yesterday that made me appreciate what you had shared in your blog, we had a busy 14 hour day driving 2 hours each way to a long meeting but the fact that myself and others took care of the water we drank, being present and connected with everyone, not trying to get a result out of the meeting, meant although the day was long and my body was ready for sleep there was not the expected “drained feeling” that can often be the case. It made me appreciate how life can be every day and how through the way we move we can work full time in many challenging situations.
In addition to this there are also many people in health and social care in the UK who override what their body is telling them by working far in excess of full-time hours through either staff shortages or a personal need for additional money. This is in huge disregard for their own wellbeing whilst promoting and providing care to others – this is clearly not a good situation for health and social care providers to be in.
Great blog Jen – highlighting that working full-time and doing shift work is possible when your listen to your body more attentively and introduce more selfcare e.g. going to bed early when your body is showing signs of feeling tired, and going for a walk after work to clear the stress of the day and feel more energised.
I have noticed that it is very easy to run my day against the rhythm of my body and be at odds with it but when I really listen to my body and go with its rhythm it feels very different and the amount of exhaustion, anxiety and tension in my body reduces substantially.
I love the rhythm that I have created that supports me in my life. I find that I can deal with things in my day easier if I have this rock of support underneath me. Working full time is now the norm for me, and I also work or have full days of activity on my days off. Life is full, and it is able to be full because of the loving support I give to myself.
I have also noticed that on weekends I am often more tired than on days when I am working, especially if I see the weekend as a ‘switch off’ time of the week. When I am committed to life and living it fully no matter what I am doing I don’t get as tired, whereas if I want to check out or withdraw from life I have noticed that this drains me and I am likely to feel more tired.
You have captured something here Jennifer that affects nearly everybody. How many of us would say that we are worn out or worn down by our work? How many of us long for weekends or holidays or time off? This is ridiculous when we consider that we spend probably most of our lives at work (if we are working full time). So what you are presenting here is ground-breaking in that there is a way to work that does not wear us out but we can actually thrive and feel vital at work and that work could even support that vitality, not break it down.
Work is so much more enjoyable when we fully commit to it and don’t waste energy on not wanting to be there. I know how daunting work can be when we are to exhausted and have to prop ourselves up with coffee and sugar so it’s majorly life changing to get a grip on this as you have done Jennifer.
Jennifer, I can relate to what you have written, before attending the presentations of Universal Medicine I wanted to work as little as possible, if I had lots of work on I would find it very stressful and just thought that’s just how it is if I work lots so I would try and avoid too much work. But I reduced my work so much that I actually felt more tired and lethargic. Now having been inspired by the presentations of Universal Medicine I love working and work as many hours as I have available and feel so much more vital, as long as I stay steady and calm and do not rush and continue to look after myself it feels like the more I work the more well I feel.
Our body definitely is a “wonderful teacher”, in fact the best teacher, as it is with us in every moment of our life, and in every moment it is speaking to us. Unfortunately as we have not been raised to listen to its messages it often has to yell loudly to get our attention, often stopping us in our tracks if we still ignore it. From what you have shared Jennifer I can feel how you are now working in union with your body, and as a result it won’t matter how long your shifts are or what happens during them, your body is there supporting you all the way.
I have lived the other end of being exhausted by never being out of work and at sometimes working multiple jobs at the same time. I had been in from total disregard for my body. Caffeine and nicotine were like my feet, always with me. If I had not meet Serge Benhayon the time on my clock would be close to being running out. I now have one job I enjoy doing, don’t do stress and feel like I am turning back the hands on the clock.
This is a needed blog for me, Jennifer, as I am also working with people and sometimes get tired by investing me or reacting to the expectations. It is valuable that you share how you go to bed or for a walk. As you, I am deeply grateful for the transparency Serge Benhayon is reflecting and supporting us, so that we are able to see and feel our true way again.
Indeed it is so important to listen to our bodies and support it with restful sleep and supportive exercise rather than applying a solution like working less.
What you are sharing Jennifer is profound, but very doable when self-love is applied without the sugar coating. Self-love as presented by Serge Benhayon has changed the approach of many professional’s relationships to work. If we were to take just two working models nurses and teachers both get tremendous benefits, not only for themselves but everyone who they have a relationships with, and simply by using the Universal Medicine model as presented by Serge Benhayon.
Work is such a wonderful and re-vitalizing thing to have in our lives. It is such a gift to have a job. I ‘retired’ from University some years ago at the age of 60 and came up north to live. When I got here and began to live my daily life I realised that there was no way I wanted to be retired – it felt pointless to go around eating sleeping and living and not contributing to society in some way, no matter what that was. Yes, I love shopping, going down to have a swim at the beach, seeing friends and so on, but nothing took the place of work. When I tried I couldn’t even get part-time work in my area of English Literature at University, couldn’t even get a job doing exam-supervising! I then had to seek other forms of employment – but it was at this point I knew that there was no way I could retire. Our whole way of seeing old age and work will have to change with more and more of us listening to our bodies and taking care of ourselves and keeping vital. We will want to keep working and contributing our skills, wisdom and experience for a s long as we live.
‘Even when I did have a week off work, I would be back feeling like I needed another week off during my first shift back.’ ….. such a lovely message from your body, Jennifer, that it’s not the amount we work that the issue, it’s how we are when we are at work, or with anything that we’re doing that’s the key. The way we move and the energy we are in will dictate how we will feel in our bodies.
I love the way you honour the presentations of Serge Benhayon in your blog Jennifer. When I first heard it presented that we were made to work and that work was a joy because it is all of us being in service to each other, this revolutionised the way I looked at work. I had been under the misapprehension (which beleaguers the thinking of the majority) that work was a pain-in-the neck thing that we all had to do in order to make money so that we could eat, have a home, go on holidays, buy clothes and furniture etc. It is true that I often enjoyed myself at work but I still joined in the universal groan at the ferry stop where we waited to go to the mainland so we could drive to work!
I have recently become very aware of the number of sick days that are taken where I work. People seem to be ‘sick’ with great regularity. I can only recall taking off 3 days in the past three years, two of which were after an operation. This isn’t to blow my own trumpet at all, or show that I have an unusual constitution, or indeed that I choose to go to work when I am unwell. I do only work three days a week in my paid job, but I feel that the reason I am very rarely unwell is due to the fact that I look after myself and listen to my body. There is absolutely no doubt, as you have shared Jennifer, that the way in which we work combined with the way we care for ourselves and listen to our bodies results in us having way more energy and being far less likely to get sick.
Wow this is a wonderful turn-around Jennifer – from gradually cutting out work and working less and less, to making a complete 180 degree turn back into working full-time and loving it. The trend for most people is that the opposite is happening. Thank you for sharing how you came back to full-time work and loving it. I so agree, that honouring the body and what it feels is a huge step to take and miracles can happen. Honouring the body is the key!
Having you back at work full time reflecting to other nurses how it is possible to care and support yourself so that you are able to enjoy your job like you do is just amazing. Thank goodness that you have been inspired by what Serge presents and have applied what you have observed to your life as from that, we all benefit from everything you now bring to your work.
What you share here Jennifer, describing the fatigue and burnout, many nurses I’m sure can relate to. The way you have turned this completely around is extraordinary, and an inspiration to many people in all professions.
It is so easy to get into a mindset about how we are feeling, which is really no more than a comfortable excuse to not take responsibility for ourselves. Sometimes all it needs is a slight change in the way we look at things to realise it was just an illusion. We talk ourselves into many things, and sit back and complain – but how many of us actually do something about it? That is what is so beautiful to read, the smallest choices make a fundamental difference, not just to ourselves, but to others around us too.
In a profession with such a high rate of people leaving work early or looking to transfer to different areas the importance of journeys such as this being known is vital for others to understand that there are other ways to approach work without becoming exhausted, anxious or stressed.
Thank you Jennifer for sharing your experience, I have been looking at my life lately, and at my age I don’t want to take on too much, but I have been noticing that I am not as tired throughout the day as I used to be even though I am getting up much earlier than usual. Your blog is inspiring showing that it is the quality of care we live in, that gives us vitality in our everyday life.
What a huge shift from cutting your hours to the minimum and still feeling exhausted to working full time and relishing it. Over the last couple of years I have been building a business and I have to say I have never enjoyed working so much. It’s not that my work load isn’t challenging or the stresses have gone, what has changed is the way I work and my relationship with those I’m working with.
Jennifer, I love how you expressed in this blog that your experience of being exhausted at work really wasn’t so much about the job or the work but more about how you went about your day both at work and at home. What a beautiful example of truly taking responsibility by making simple and meaningful changes.
I love the title Jennifer, relishing full time work how awesome is that. Something we can all aspire to, starting to truly enjoy our work by applying simple tools and common sense to support ourselves, that already would be medicine enough to turn the tides on our international state of health and well-being enormously.
Jennifer I can really relate to what you felt about working full time, and wondering if you would be able to cope with it. I used to think I would never be able to hold down a full time job, let alone have other commitments on my days off. But that is what I am now doing, and I find that the more I take care of how I am living simply by paying attention to what I eat, when I go to bed and not getting distracted by the TV or getting lost in a ‘good book’, the more I am able to do, and the more energy I have.
I know a few people that work in the nursing industry, in fact 2 of my aunties were nurses. When I was a child they were great people to be around because of how they cared. One thing they all agree with is the pressure that is placed on them is enormous and they receive little understanding or appreciation. It’s great to have someone like you Jennifer full time in this industry and from what you have written I’m sure you will support many many others, thank you.
I’ve been in the process of also returning to a job and what I find fascinating is that the commitment towards finding a new job, also had a huge influence on other parts of my life. It is as if I’ve got way more energy since applying for jobs. It has made me realise that working, having a job actually is all about commitment to life. Working is a commitment to expressing our Love and putting energy into serving others in whatever area this might be. I found that it makes life much more simple. It’s simply about following my heart’s impulses and not think (or overthink and overthinking the overthinking) too much.
Our body as our teacher, what a great and truthful concept!
I have experienced exactly the same: “I also observed that when I watched TV I could easily ignore those tired signals, whereas when I do not watch TV, I more easily check into what my body is saying, and honour it.” The more tired I was the more I wanted to land on the bench and stay there and the later I would go to bed. Ending in a negative circle of waking up more tired the next morning.
The nursing community provides such immense service to humanity, this approach and experience you have shared deserves to be shouted from the rooftops, for nurses deserve as much support as they give to everyone else.
Interesting topic you raise with people longing for their retirement. How can this be when working is part of our natural expression and very healthy for us? You can only long for your retirement and finally be able to do the things you always wanted, if you aren’t working with or in flow with yourself.
Powerful statement and experience I can relate to: “What I found was that no matter how many hours I worked I would still feel overrun by work stress.” Stress is not in how many hours we work it is in the way we work.
When talking about self-care with people I often hear them express they care for themselves because they work less hours now. And in having a day ‘off’ they can get back to themselves and handle the overwhelm work is for them. But when they are honest it isn’t enough ‘time off’ or really working for them, because something fundamental is missing: true care for themselves.
I’m glad I got the opportunity to leave my job and be unemployed for a while, because I was then able to see my stress was not about my job. I am also glad I got to live in a hot country because I was convinced it was the cold that stopped me from enjoying nature and the outdoors, and hence led to me feeling down. Without these opportunities I may have had the perfect excuse to keep blaming my location and job. With these two big things out of the picture I had to start looking at myself and how I was living. This is when my life started to change.
I was under the impression it was my job that caused me stress, so I left it. Then it was the country that I lived in so I moved country, only to find that I was still feeling very stressed. Like you Jennifer I am now back in the job I left and I’m loving it, and also back in the country I left and loving it more. By allowing my body to be my teacher I too have made many simple changes to the way I live that have me feeling more vital and energised and enthusiastic about work and life.
Jennifer I love that you are back working full time and offer a reflection to other nurses, health professionals and all workers, that there is work to be done and that it can be done without putting ourselves and our bodies in disregard to do it.
I am starting to go back to fulltime work in nursing too, how I look at the purpose of work makes a huge difference but just as important is if I allow myself to be me, to not take on what is happening with clients and colleagues and to support my body to be able to work with joy and to make, to the best of my abilities, healthy choices so I don’t get drained. A loving relationship with me is the foundation of all that I bring to everyday life. Thank you Jennifer for this inspirational blog!
This is a wonderful showcase that enjoying life is not about cutting down work or avoiding working, but the choice to responsibly take care of everything in the way we live our daily life that ensures we are prepared and supported for the work we do.
I too had the belief that less work hours would reduce any stress. All this achieved was avoiding dealing with the triggers, which meant that there was no change to the cause of the stress in the first place. It was through Universal Medicine that I started to make true changes which meant that I could approach work in a whole new way.
It’s inspiring to read about the changes you have experienced simply by taking responsibility for your the choices and honouring what your body is communicating to you. Simple changes in one’s lifestyle can result in significant changes in one’s overall well being.
What you write Jennifer does not just apply to nursing but to virtually all of us in our work. I remember hearing someone say a while back that so very few of us appreciate just how good we can feel as human beings, and in that it is a curiosity of the human condition that we do make choices that make us sleepy, tired and ultimately exhausted. My experience is that a task can feel completely different on separate occasions dependent on how rested and positive I am about the work. So with nursing as with so many other things, bringing a well appreciated body and the job changes completely, and means that holiday we think we need isn’t actually it at all.
You put it so simply, “I now know how to support and care myself in a way that will definitely support me to remain in full-time work for a long time to come.” The ways to support, care and nurture ourselves are simple steps that make all the difference as we move into older age. What a great example for your work colleagues and a delight for your patients to receive care from someone who lives that care for herself.
Wow Jennifer, what a turnaround! And done with such simple, common-sense approach. Very inspiring:)
I have experienced having more energy and feeling more vital when I have had alot of commitments, I have also experienced feeling worn down and overworked etc.. as you have shared. This really brings the focus back to the way we are working and spending our spare time.
Gorgeous blog Jennifer – it is lovely to revisit it. Over the years of attending presentations by Serge Benhayon (since June 2008) I now have more awareness of being present with my body, rather than letting my mind dictate everything. The difference in my body flexibility and general wellbeing is way beyond how it was 8 years ago and I am loving how much more I can do now, in my mid 60’s, without the exhaustion and stress that was all too familiar then.
’Within a short period of time I was no longer tired after work and had plenty of energy to complete my days, even if I was working late.’ It never ceases to amaze me how willing the body is to change, if we but allow it and start to listen to what it is telling us.
’What I found was that no matter how many hours I worked I would still feel overrun by work stress.’ Yes I have experienced this, it has nothing to do with how many hours we work, we get exhausted because we don’t honour and truly care about ourselves first and foremost.
A great blog Jennifer and lots to get inspired by no matter what profession we are in.
If I could chose between being looked after by a nurse that is exhausted or one that is truly nurturing and caring for herself, I know what my answer would be.
‘What I have learned and observed I have been able to apply to my own life.’ – This is super important, the only way we can ever truly change anything in our lives, is not by having anyone telling us or dictating us what to do, but by being willing to apply the changes that we ourselves can feel is needed, based on observing what is true and honouring of ourselves in our daily lives and not to override this observation.
What a difference it makes looking after ourselves and heeding the signals of our bodies. If I am tired and I try to push through it, I am affected so much worse than when I honour what my body says and rest (through the day) or sleep when I feel to at night. I do some voluntary work 2 mornings per week and if I push myself to stay and do more I feel my body drop energy dramatically within the next half hour ! .
I have never really not worked from a very young age, I did a bit of travelling from time to time but that was my only time out. There was a time in my life though that I had become a lot slower and exhausted and ran on coffee and other stimulants and probably was on the verge of some sort of break down or illness and then there was the timely meeting of Serge which saved me from all that.
The way we live our lives from what we ingest to how we move the quality that we do this in has irrefutably been shown to be the cause of 80% of illness and disease yet we seem to rather think the gods have something to do with disease rather than see the correlation and make the necessary changes to our lives. It is a fascinating observation to the fact that there is more going on than mets the eye.
Jennifer it is great to read about how powerful listening to our bodies can be. We can sometimes have a picture of things – like if we work too much we will get tired – but if we scrap all that and look at the quality we bring, ie the way we do things, then it can make a huge difference. It is very honouring to constantly check in with our bodies before we allow in the ideals of how things should be. This blog is a confirmation of that and it also seems like you are now very committed to what you do and how you work, which is beautiful to read.
It is such a testament to the teachings of Universal Medicine that you along with many others I know are now fully committed to working and loving it! In a world where most suffer their jobs to pay the bills and very few love their work – no matter what it is – it is a sure sign that something significant is being shared and lived by the students of the Way of the Livingness.
This is so true. No where else have I seen and felt a collective group of people committed to their jobs, but equally committed to themselves – that is not those that work all hours, but are drained and exhausted, or who have no connection with their families and friends, or have to be stimulated by caffeine and sugar. To live a balanced and joy-full life is truly something we all deserve but at present very few live.
I agree that this blog is one story of many people I know who have completely turned their lives around from being withdrawn from life and community and work, to being full, active, thriving participants in their communities and work thanks to the inspiration of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. It is truly remarkable.
“I also observed that when I watched TV I could easily ignore those tired signals, whereas when I do not watch TV, I more easily check into what my body is saying, and honour it.” when my daughter was little we lived in a one bedroom flat and I felt it was time to move her to another room so I placed her in the lounge so we could not watch TV. I was amazed at how tired I really was and how it was true for my body to go to bed much earlier than I had been due to watching tv after I had put her to bed. It amazes me how easily we are disconnected from what our bodies need to feel replenished, over what we ‘want’ to be entertained by with the mind.
‘I thought that if I only worked part-time – I would reduce my chances of becoming overrun by the increasing stressors of work’, this is really interesting Jennifer, and from observation I can see that many people share this same attitude as you had in the past. Have the levels of exhaustion and stress gotten so high in society that the method of coping has become to avoid work altogether by reducing hours? In response to such stressors would it not be more long-term effective to look after ourselves and build a relationship with our bodies that supports us to serve in these intense environments, through exercise, a suitable diet, rest and so forth, as you have shared in your article..
I find that the way I approach work also has a huge effect on the way that I feel in my body. If I see it as something that I have to do, or even something that is benefiting me there is an effort and a trying that creates exhaustion. However, if I switch to seeing the true purpose of why I am there, which is to serve people and benefit the community, I find that I have all the energy I need.
Listening to your body supports you to embrace full-time work but also have a life outside work that is not dominated by feeling exhausted and stressed so improving your overall quality of life.
This blog is a great example of how when you return to commitment to life itself, there is more energy for you to carry out that life and all the aspects and the challenges it may bring.
This is great Jennifer. I started full time work about four and a half years ago. At first I was totally exhausted – probably for about the first year! But I have learnt how to support my body to do what is required, and although I still get tired I am no longer exhausted. The regular rhythm that a full time job provides actually helps me and encourages me to look after my body, and I find that I am often energised as a result. It is a wonderful turnaround.
Thank you, Jennifer, you have really highlighted here the difference it can make when we care for and listen to our bodies, rather than live from the beliefs and ideals in our minds about how life is. Learning to honour ourselves in this way feels like an eternally deepening process, as there is always more to learn about the truth from within.
It is lovely to read how you are relishing your new full-time role and I am sure your patients are too. The impact of so many workers feeling stressed and wanting not to be at work has massive impacts on everyone and that it can be turned around by taking responsibility for how we are with ourselves, listening to our bodies and taking better care of them is revolutionary for all.
What your article demonstrates to me, Jennifer, is the importance that to fulfill a task one has to take responsibility of how one is oneself, to build a solid foundation of self-care and self-love, before endeavouring to help another. As you experienced and share that if you do not establish this you only end up drained and needing help yourself.
When we learn to listen and deeply care for the body, it shows its appreciation by supporting us and fueling us with energy and inner resources to accomplish what seemed impossible before. It is often over-looked that the body needs to rest and be replenished each night, and when we do this and go to bed when tired and early we are rewarded the next day. I have also found that regular gentle exercise, eliminating coffee and sugars from my diet, sustains energy levels throughout the day and despite the fact of working thirteen hour days, six days a week.
Reading this reminded me of the many conversations I have had lately with people in their 20’s who are already setting the scene for when they retire, and I understand why this is because I used to do the same. Being so exhausted and disillusioned with life, all I wanted to do was check out and escape but since listening to the lived wisdom of Serge Benhayon I have slowly come to look at work very differently and have learnt that it does not have to be the drudgery I thought it was.
Jennifer this is a beautiful blog and one that many will relate to as it reflects the lives of millions of people trapped in what appears to be a merciless cycle of work, home, exhaustion. Serge Benhayon and Universal medicine has supported many to get off the hamster wheel, take responsibility for themselves and live a more caring and responsive life: one that listens the supports the body to give more. You have shown that is possible to transform what seemed impossible, to fully embracing and loving full-time working. Nurses are treasures and we need them to want to be at work and have the energy to be of service to patients. If more nurses and doctors were introduced and practiced the ‘Way of the Livingness’ health care systems would be transformed.
An amazing woman stops drinking coffee and watching TV, starts taking care of herself…rediscovers her mojo and goes back to work full time supporting humanity as a nurse. That is the kind of story that we need to be reading in the press. A few simple choices and a life turned around. Amongst the quagmire of devastation and bad news about humanity, it is beautiful and so inspiring to see that there is another way.
Thank you for writing this, Jennifer, it is inspiring for all of us, not just nurses, but for whatever occupation we are in – the importance of self care and exploring how we are in all our relationships helps us to understand how to support our bodies, so we are no longer exhausted by how we live our days ‘ I now know how to support and care for myself in a way that will definitely support me to remain in full-time work for a long time to come.’ Great to read, thank you.
Jennifer as I read the papers and hear about the burnt out nurses what you share in your blog is certainly an answer to the problem that the papers are reporting. It’s also incredibly simple and something that anyone can do, it costs no money – just a choice to start to truly care and value ourselves. I look forward to reading this article on a nursing website!
The medical profession and teachers both require helping others and are in the top four highest burnout rates for occupations, with the physician at one and nurse at two. They all have the common long hours, staffing shortages and ever-increasing administrative burdens that cause stress that brings on illness, and the downward spiral becomes a self-feeding, perpetual machine. We need to turn this on its head, without supporting the people doing this work first it will only get worse.
Great to read your change around with work and how you are committing to yourself and full time work. The more we nurture and care for our body, listen to what it is telling us and honouring this it is incredible what we able to do.Our vitality levels not only are effected by what we consume but also energetically how we are choosing to live. I know when I observe and not take on what is going on around me that this gives me space just to be me and this feeds me back with a vitality that no super food or otherwise can give me.
Coffee is interesting, and I should know after it became one of my food groups for most of my working life. Life had been; work hard, party hard and drink lots of caffeine, then repeat. Eventually, my life became drink coffee, work, drink to wind down, sleep and repeat. Coffee is the world’s number one most consumed and traded agricultural commodity. When I stopped drinking coffee and started looking after my body and what I put in it, I had more energy! I would wake up and be ready for the day. Living life being me is now my full-time job that I look forward to doing every morning.
Just like the TV we can get lost in other peoples drama shows. Just like drinking coffee we can get ‘sped up’ by other’s emotions and nervous flow. We can be so affected by our environment but as your example shows Jennifer, with every bit we do have a choice. In fact when we delve deeper, it seems that we have actually been working full-time to be distracted, tired and exhausted quite deliberately. Because when we stop this and start to observe, life gets easier, much more simple and our body is like yours, nursed back to health.
A saying that floats around many work places is ‘Happy Friday’. It’s like Monday to Friday or in the case of shift work, just making it through the week as unscathed as possible. Doesn’t that show us that how we are with ourselves and each other is not loving or honouring. Things left unsaid, office politics, eating foods that make us sleepy, eating and drinking stimulants, emotions, overwhelm and pressure all ensure that by the end of the week you are exhausted. You have shown Jennifer that there is indeed another way to live and work that makes it a joy to work full-time with ample energy before and after.
I agree Jennifer, not knowing how to be fit for work, in all aspects, is debilitating. I left the food industry (chef) for the same reasons, and others. I was chronically run-down and struggling on the physical level but certainly wasn’t helping matters with the way I was living. Today I would do things very differently if I were to return.
In an interview I had today, for the question where you are asked to share what your strengths are and what you bring to the job, my answer was along the lines of – I live in a way that doesn’t impede the way I work but supports how I am at work and the work I do. I could not have said that for the majority of the 23 years I’ve worked… I was the same as most, saying ‘thank God it’s Friday’ or ‘is it time to go yet?’. I’ve always enjoyed working but would bring all my emotional outside of work stuff to work which would leave me tired and then work would become too much. I have days where I am tired and not giving 100% now but for the majority I am there and ready for what is needed and can honestly say I love my job and I love to work.
So many nurses and doctors appear to be burnt out, and need support. Thank you for the work you do Jennifer, and the reflection you are offering.
Preparing for sleep in the time leading up to when we take ourselves to bed makes a significant difference in the quality of our sleep, and whether we awake feeling refreshed or ‘hung over’ from our body having to clear and adjust to bring the body back to its natural rhythm.
I have also found that going for a walk when tired can actually re-energise me if done with awareness of my body and no push.
It is the quality of connection we have with ourselves that supports us in whatever we are doing. Thanks Jennifer.
I have experienced that the more responsible I am and the more I commit to life, the more energy I have. It is really the opposite to what I would have imagined in the past. In relation to the TV, I used to think it was relaxing but actually it was draining and sucking my energy. I have so much more time, space and energy since I stopped watching TV.
“Through this I have learnt (and am still learning) that my body is a wonderful teacher.” Yes Jennifer our one true teacher is within us always and ready to guide us through life when we listen to what it’s sharing without perfection just with a open heart to continue to look at our choices and learn from what is there on offer always. Awesome blog thank you.
It is great to note that there is no perfection or perfect solution to how to do full time nursing/work. This process is very personal – it is for each of us to listen to our body and constantly refine our sleep, food, exercise, self-care etc based on what is felt.
Watching TV or going on the computer can be a trap that fools you into thinking you are not so tired. What I find is that it gives me a false stimulation that allows me to override my already tired body. This may seem like a good thing, but in the long run, staying up after I am tired causes long-term wear and tear and exhaustion. The tiredness hasn’t really gone, it has just been suppressed and ignored.
It is the normal, accepted way to deal with things that we look to outside ourselves for fault or blame. We are stressed at work, so it must be the work that is to blame. It takes quite a leap to start to look at what we are doing that is compounding the stress. Added to this is that even if we are looking at our part, we are often only offered more empty solutions that do not support us in our foundational way of life. That is the huge difference that Universal Medicine has offered me. It has brought my attention to my part in whatever is happening in my life and has offered a foundational way of living that supports me in all aspects of my life. Seemingly simple choices like not getting caught up in my thoughts, feeling my body as I work and being very gentle as I move have made nursing a completely different profession for me.
I find that while I am not dealing with work stress, it comes with me wherever I go, be that on days off or holidays. The feeling of unresolved tension is like a weight that is in some ways more draining than actually dealing with the stressful situation. Having this unresolved tension also erodes our confidence and ability to deal with stressful work situations effectively.
I am sure a lot of nurses have tried the part time way of dealing with stress (or going onto permanent night shift). In theory it sounds like it should work. Less time in the stressful environment should equal less stress and yet it doesn’t work. This is a great example of where we need to create the change within ourselves with how we prepare/care for ourselves for work and treat ourselves whilst we are at work.
Your blog underscores the importance and the benefits of working in partnership with the body’s signals, listening and adjusting our activities accordingly.
Jennifer you share sometime great and much needed tips as exhaustion is plaguing our society. It sounds so obvious that when we do not listen to the signals of our body we suffer the consequences and yet so many of us override these signals. We prop ourselves up with sugar and coffee and distract ourselves so we do not have to feel the extent of the exhaustion. I also once lived with all of these props, and a few more, however I now listen to my body (most of the time) and honour what it so willingly communicates and this supports everything I do.
It’s very interesting how, when we’re not feeling so great, our immediate reaction is often to assume it’s what we’re doing, or that we’re doing too much, as opposed to it being HOW we are doing what we’re doing. It’s amazing how much we are capable of doing when we are making choices to support and care for ourselves. The loving choice made in one moment supports us in the next moment ….
Thank you Jennifer, you have shown so clearly how much wisdom our bodies hold, if only we take the time to listen.
I can really relate to what you’ve written. I used to, and sometimes catch myself saying I need time out when actually I just need to pause and choose to be aware of what’s going on that I’m wanting to check out from – so a difficult conversation because someone got emotional and I took it personally; or something I didn’t want to own up to, or being asked to solve something I don’t have a solution to so panic. All these movements I make to avoid being aware of what’s in front of me exhaust me so I think I need a break.
Today on my lunchtime walk I realised I have been feeling edgy noticing all the moments I take to check out, all the islands I create in my day as safety nets I cling to, when all I need do is just relax, feel and surrender to the awareness I am fighting not to be aware of. What if I simply allowed myself to flow with the universe and stopped fighting it?
We are built to work, but we often work in complete disregard of our body focussing on the job and not how we are when we are doing it. The more I observe myself at work, the more I understand that it is our lack of connection and awareness of how we are in our body that drains us and makes us feel exhausted far more than physical work.
It’s not abut the hours we work so much as the way we work, for example if we go to work resentfully everyday and drag our bodies around and move them in a way that actually is magnifying this feeling of not wanting to be at work, it’s very exhausting and drains our energy. Where as when we bring our full presence to work and really appreciate what we bringing, our work takes on a different quality.
“There is definitely going to be a period of adjustment for my body, but I now know how to support and care myself in a way that will definitely support me to remain in full-time work for a long time to come.”
The way we support ourselves and our bodies makes a huge difference to our level of vitality and energy level at work and in general, every loving caring step we make to support and be tender with our bodies, then allows us to bring more quality in the way we serve others in our work.
The more we commit to our lives, work, families and our own bodies, the more energy and vitality we have, as the commitment greatly supports us.
I spent most of my life escaping from life, people and responsibility, the more I embrace theses things the more energy and purpose I have in life, a big thank you to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for the huge support with this.
I can very much relate to your blog Jennifer, being self employed in the building industry, in the past I would work part time. I would work very hard and push my body and myself to complete job, and fall in heap, exhausted and need days off, frequent trips away, and holidays to reward myself for the hard work.
Discovering that I was looking for recognition and approval from my work and for my customers to acknowledge and appreciate me was exhausting me, as you can’t please everyone. Working on appreciating and excepting myself, has really helped me stop this pattern, and I have lots more energy and vitality.
Jennifer you speak for many when saying this ‘I have an immense appreciation for Serge Benhayon and all that he presents and lives, which has been an endless source of inspiration to me.’ I have read countless stories (and include myself here) from people who were exhausted, sick, depressed, miserable, emotional, overweight, whose relationships weren’t working .. the list goes on and on; but in knowing Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and working with the teachings of The Ageless Wisdom along with taking back responsibility for their lives and the choices they make, listening to their body, and going from complete disregard of themselves to now deeply loving their bodies have COMPLETELY turned their lives around as you have. This should be the news that we are reading about and what truly supports us, not the latest diet or who has split up with or dating who. Miracles are happening, for you to return back to full time work and live the way you now do is a miracle. I have so much respect for nurses they work really long shifts, don’t get proper breaks and are often the brunt of people that are ill or families that are emotional. It is lovely to hear how so much has changed for you and I am absolutely sure that you will bring the same inspiration Serge has to you, to all those in the hospital ✨
What you have shared Jennifer confirms for me that it is not what we do but how we care for ourselves in this that brings the outcome. The body responds very quickly to being heard and nurtured. There was a period of time (all of my life up until 5 years ago) that I focused on rewarding myself with lots of sugar, caffeine, heavy foods etc and never realised that what I was doing was blocking my body’s call for attention. Now listening to my body, all movement, food and the sleep routine I live are the direct outcome of what my body asks for and responds to. Even the thoughts that come in are considered and many I have noticed are not self loving and so I am acutely aware that I can choose the thoughts that influence this amazing life I am now living. The more loving I am towards myself the more love I have to share with others. The changes you have implemented means not only more love for you but more love for other staff and patients – beautiful for the whole system in which you work.
From reading your blog Jennifer what I found inspiring was your willingness to take responsibility and commit to life. Choosing to work full-time is a responsibility that deeply supports us if we approach it with love and care instead of resentment or dread. It is not natural for us to avoid responsibility but this is what I often see in many people’s lives and myself included. The struggle to choose responsibility is something I realise is self-created because once we realise how empowering it is to choose responsibility in all aspects of our lives we get to feel how amazing it is. We feel more expanded, more able to commit to life, inspired and everything flows whereas when we avoid responsibility we can easily feel overwhelmed, stuck and heavy.
I do find that working full time can be very engaging if we feel a sense of commitment and know that us being there makes a huge difference to another’s day.
It is amazing and empowering to realise that how we are at work in not just about how we are at work, but rather how we are with ourselves before and after work that builds the quality of how we are, how we respond and what we bring to our workplace.
As I was closing this blog I just wanted to add that over the years I have seen the workforce change dramatically. When my grandfather was working, there was just work, holidays and retirement and really nothing else. Then my Dad did the same until his 40’s and he was made redundant and then worked in his own business that had no set hours or finish. Then came me and I followed the lead of the 2 men before me, full time work with no thought of stopping until retirement. Then I took a step out of full time work 10 years earlier than my Dad. It’s funny to see just in my case the mix of both these men’s work life in mine, only it happened quicker than my father. I see this in the workforce around me, things happening quicker. Even businesses going out of business within months and no longer years. Everything seems to be speeding up and yet things are getting worse. Time to keep asking questions and watch for shrugging shoulders.
I have and still do work in hospitality/tourism for many years and can relate to being hugely affected by stress. Come my weekend I was so exhausted would spend my first day off in the ‘comfort’ of my living room with the curtains drawn watching movies and eating ‘movie watching food’ all day. This did not feel great as I would have rather been out enjoying the day but I physically was not able to. Yet instead of feeling or reflecting on how I could change this I opted to check out from going there. Through the presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I discovered that I do have a choice of how I respond to situations at work and in general. In choosing to connect to myself and my body, and practicing self-care and self-love I developed a marker in my body. This marker is what guided me to feel what is honoring and supportive of this connection, of how I am working and responding the situations that present at work. More and more I come to my weekend with more vitality and awareness of how to my day was lived. My days off are now filled with activities that I love and choose to be a part of.
Hi Jennifer. Amazing for me to read this as I too, have just stepped back into full-time teaching. I had worked full time for about 6 years before I had children and I had often observed so many teachers not address their exhaustion and well-being issues. Returning as a relief teacher, I have often worked close to full-time as the need is huge and the workload has definitely increased for teachers but the level of self-care has definitely dropped for so many. After incorporating many of the teachings from Universal Medicine, through Serge and Natalie Benhayon and his team, I feel super solid in my return.
Very inspiring approach to take in an industry that can be notorious for burning people out. Your simple adjustments have obviously gone a long way, great to hear that you have embraced full time work as the world keeps getting sicker, vital doctors and nurses are needed more than ever before.
Serge Benhayon has helped me to be “fit for life” too – our emotional fitness, so to speak, has a massive impact on how we feel and our energy levels. Being more aware of how I am reacting or responding to situations and people makes a huge difference to how I feel and the quality of my work.
Wow Jennifer your transformation is absolutely inspirational. The changes you have made to then be able work through night shift without needing coffee is ground breaking. You have shown how through taking responsibility of how we care for ourselves and our bodies we are able to work in a way that honors and respects how we feel. You are a shining example, for all fields of work, that living and working with vitality is possible.
Hello Jennifer and great to see you working full time again. I found myself in a similar position after working full time for some years and then stopping completely with no plans of ever returning. For me it was good for a while but then weirdly I ended up feeling the same again. This showed me that there was something about the way I was doing things and it was less about actually what I was doing, a quality more then a quantity. When I started to tentatively look at the quality I was living in small things began to change, why did I need so much coffee when I didn’t really like the taste, why did I have to get home to watch that TV show no matter what etc. Not all the time did I get answers to these questions but I kept asking them of myself and slowly it unpacked itself. The dedication was to the fact that no matter where I was or what I was doing at some point if it didn’t feel ‘right’ I would ask a question and not just shrug my shoulders and accept it.
I find, the less I do the more tired I feel, and I do agree with the thoughts that we hold and how they definitely affect how we are feeling and how much energy we have after doing that constantly. Self care is also a major player in how our bodies are fairing through the day, for sure.
“What I have learned and observed I have been able to apply to my own life.”. This simple last line tells a power-full story of how you can make long lasting changes in your life. It is observing and learning and then making a choice as to what you choose to apply/bring into your own life. Then as you ‘try this on for size’ you see how it feels, then you make another choice as to whether or not to continue it. And if it is not a loving choice, and you choose to discard it (such as coffee or falling asleep on the couch), to then appreciate that loving choice (even write a blog about it!). And if you re-choose that same behaviour again, no big deal, you just ask yourself why and choose again. It always comes around again until we choose differently.
Our bodies coupled with ‘work’ are a very wonderful indicator of how we are truly going in our day. It is easy to put the responsibility on work pressures, stress, etc. What you share Jennifer is a simple precious gift: how we feel the affects of our day are directly related to how we care for our selves in our day.
Just choosing to support our selves and our bodies with sleep, exercise that our body chooses and nourishment in ways that truly sustain our bodies brings well-being. And this may just be the start.
It is amazing the difference it makes when we change the way we are doing things. I love your example here about how you adjusted your walk, “If I felt vital I would walk with more of a pace. If I was feeling tired and tender I would walk with more delicacy.” Yes, how we do things makes all the difference, in your case, even though you felt very tired, you actually felt so much better after a walk, rather than through having a sleep. Being connected to your body, and being able to read what was necessary to support it has made such a difference to how tired you get in your full time job. Wonderful sharing, thank you!
Jennifer, this is profound, absolute gift for all nurses to read. And not only nurses, but everyone. It is so important to not escape these things in life but rather see why we want to escape them. As in this case it makes total sense why you wanted. But having now found the way to care for your body – is the absolute path of how we should walk as women, men, nurses, doctors etc.etc. in life – and understand that life is about care for oneself first.
This is fantastic to read, when we care for ourselves we can work full time in any profession. I feel more and more that we are made to work, and not doing this is holding us back, it is greatly inspiring to see you going back with a full commitment working for such a long time in nursing already. I am sure this is unique.
What a difference Jennifer. and what an inspiration… you have so much to offer the medical system about the trend of burn out for nurses.
Goes completely against the normal that you no longer use coffee to get through shifts. It’s amazing what happens when we take care and love ourselves. Our bodies are super amazing and there ready for us when we decide to listen to it.
Thanks for sharing this Jennifer. As you say, in nursing this is very common, with nurses only working as much as they need to so that they can pay the bills. I have found that whenever I feel like I need a break that this is a marker to look at my daily rhythms and how I am taking care of myself. I know that I can easily work many more hours in the day than the time actually required to be at work, so if I am feeling like I need a break, it is a marker that I need to support myself more so that I can work joyfully.
Brilliant Jennifer – how not pushing, and observing the body’s needs has brought more vitality to your life. I find that I work much longer hours doing with that awareness – and with that connection look forward to the day, whatever it may bring.
It is deeply beautiful in that there is evolution when we feel the relationship built with our body allows us to move into deeper surrender, to simply walk life knowing we are supported every step of the way.
I realised a while ago that being tired hasn’t a lot to do with the hours I work, but everything the way I am with myself during the day. And pondering and acknowledging more and more I realise that being tired or feeling exhausted is in fact a choice to not having to feel so much. And in choosing so, I had the perfect excuse to not step up in Responsibility. Working a lot is Lovely and actually has a positive influence of all areas in my life. God’s never taking time off and it looks like he doesn’t need it. So why should I / we? Except for honouring our bodies when they ask us for a rest / sleep.
Inspirational, Jen and shows how self care can truly support us if we live this care from our bodies. I found the big difference for me in being at work has come about by not separating work from home life and by preparing for life rather than separating what I do. Of course this is not perfect all the time but it helps me to be consistent in my self care across a 24hr period and to not compartmentalise my life too much.
This is an all too familiar tale. Exhaustion and coping mechanisms becoming the norm but all the while an underlying over-ride of what the body is telling us. It is quite crazy that listening to our body and supporting each other to have the courage to go against the grain in order to honour what our body is asking for us to do is such a challenge. I am deeply appreciative of this collection of blogs which act as a reminder and an inspiration to question what we have taken as normal. The consequences of which is an enormous benefit to ourselves, our families, our community and our world.
Thank you Jennifer, to go from being exhausted and pulling out of work to going back to work full time is an incredible story to tell and a vital one for people to learn from.
TV is indeed a huge distraction as one can so easily get hooked and actually see it as a reward, eg, we tell ourselves, I have been working the whole day, now stop busy, now I am going to sit down with my dinner and watch several hours of TV to relax… and before you know it, it’s 11 or 12 o clock! This was my old habit, but no longer. Plus I just sold my TV and video.
Thank you Jennifer for showing how much we can change the tiredness and exhaustion we feel on a daily basis by simply starting to make changes to our daily rhythm and allow us to live more accordingly to what our bodies need instead of pushing them through the day. I have experienced that too, the more I care for myself and listen to what my body needs the more vital and strong I become.
Working full time feels AMAZING, I know in the past I have tried to do as little work as possible, but the fact is work supports us more than almost anything else, we’re made to work and to serve, and work is a place where we can grow exponentially. It’s such a great place to learn about who we are and our purpose and really commit to life in every way.
There are so many people who have gone from being exhausted and working as little as possible to living and working full of vitality again because of their choice to apply Serge Benhayon’s wisdom and common sense to their daily lives. I love reading and being inspired by these stories so thank you Jennifer for sharing yours, which is very similar to my own.
In the beginning I was at awe witnessing the amount of work Serge Benhayon does just as a matter of course – offering treatments, running workshops, writing books, supporting people with numerous projects, personal responses to hundreds of people who seek his advice in person or by email, deeply loving family man, living a normal home life shopping, cleaning, cooking etc, forever on the look out for how to support humanity, and also dedicated attention to taking care of his body so that he can continue do all of this in the highest quality – and these are just the activities that I am aware of. How many hours did he have in a day I would ask myself. It did not make sense to my mind, and it still does not. Because I like you was living life in a way that totally exhausted me and my solution was to disengage from life and to give less of myself, cut down my hours or both. But what I have been learning from Serge Behayon has he has been sharing the way he lives, is that it is how we live and how we react to life that exhausts us. And once we take care of how we live, our body is able to do loads more than we give it credit for.
Supporting ourselves properly by paying attention to what our body is asking for gives it the opportunity to be prepared for the work of life.
I avoided full time work like the plague, right up until I was 33 years old I had not once worked a full week of work. I didn’t notice my exhaustion it was more the fact of why work full time if you didn’t need and it was more about making as much money as possible with as little effort or work as possible. I pulled this off really well but deep down knew this was a self centred approach. Serge Benhayon inspired me to commit to life and I eventually found myself a 5 day a week job, 30 hours and then continued to work 10-15 hours a week in my own business. Next I found a weekend job and now a couple of weeks a month I work 7 days a week. I’m now enjoying life more than I ever before and feel more purpose in my day and more like myself.
For most of my life I have also worked part-time, or at least not full-time. I also thought that I needed time for myself, to rest and to just have ‘a day off’. What I have learned over the years is that when I am more with myself and when I take good care of myself, I can work much longer. I feel more commitment to life now and to myself, and therefor also to work. I love to work now!
Jennifer, it really is about listening to our body and making those simple changes to acknowledge where it is and how it feels. We can get so caught in wanting to push through and of course when we do we get exhausted, but when we get honest, feel what is there and live in a way to honour that everything changes – beautiful to hear how you’ve changed your whole approach to work and life.
How many of us have gone to work with dread, not wishing to be there or longing for a holiday. But no holiday or weekend off will suffice if we seek it as relief. It really has to be about changing our approach to work, and to how we live in the time away from work. I know work is much more enjoyable when I have cared for myself in my time outside work. Early to bed, eating light, self care tips all leads to much more energy. Also Jen, I totally relate to TV being able to reduce our awarness of our body signals, I much more easily feel my actual tiredness when I am not stimulated by screen time.
I love the simplicity Serge Benhayon lives and presents with. He says the same thing over and over again, just in different ways so if we can’t hear it expressed one way, we have the opportunity to hear it said a million other ways. One of them will resonate. The simplicity is that connection comes from our relationship with ourselves first and foremost, which starts with our connection to our body. Focus on looking after our physical body and all else follows effortlessly.
This is a powerful testimonial of being and learning with Serge Benhayon. There are so many people now back in full time work who had suffered exhaustion before – I am one of them. This alone would be worth a nobel-prize, if I were to be asked…
Exhaustion, giving up or holding back, everything is in this blog. It is incredible Jennifer that this was your way of life, yet with taking care of yourself, this began to change. Being responsible with ourselves first is truly the key to being responsible with everything else.
The way you are living now, Jennifer, feels so much more rewarding and vital than thold way of living. it is an authentic example of how Serge Benhayon gives us the tools, so simple and clear and true, to change our lives around and engage fully in life. It is always body fitrst, listen to the body, choose the body before all else, care deeplyfor the body and nurture it in every way we can.
I love how you have built up your working amount slowly but steadily after realising you could work more, instead of throwing yourself in the deep end so to speak!
Yes I think sometimes the reactions to life, and because of that holding back, working less etc. are more exhausting than going for it and dealing with what tires us at work.
Our bodies are forever willing to teach us about life and all we have to do is be willing to listen. This and the reasons as to why we may or may not choose to listen to this great teacher (the body) Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon brings a great understanding to.
It doesn’t make sense how we compartmentalise life into ‘home time’, ‘work time’, ‘entertainment time’, ‘kids time’ etc. It all should be joy ALL of the time, and whatever activity we do, a joy or form of expression can be brought to it all. When we understand that life is all one, things flow and there is no energy draining!
It’s inspiring to know that there is a true way of being with our body that enables us to not only work without finishing the day in exhaustion but to actually fully enjoy and embrace each day.
Amazing sharing Jennifer! Its not working full time that drains us, for with the proper care and rhythm our body can do it, it is the energies we take on during our day, and the way that we move our body that exhaust us our not. I have never worked full time but have had my doubts, I’ve been through that there won’t be enough ‘me’ time and ‘I need time to recover’. When committing to ‘me’ all throughout the day, I can see how it would be possible to enjoy work and not want to be somewhere else or feel drained at the end of a day!
There’s a simplicity in what you’ve written here Jennifer – listen to the body and let it be our guide and to the best of our ability don’t override what it’s communicating to us 24/7.
It’s interesting what you say Jen and I loved reading about the changes you have made, quite simply, to your wind down rhythm and your day that have supported you to be at work far more than before. I have been going through an opposite experience over the past two years where my hours have cut down from full-time, due to university study and nursing placements and now during pregnancy. The idea itself of not working full-time has exposed for me how much we can attach our self-worth to the hours in which we do; be they lots or a little, do they come from an enjoyment and responsibility in being there or are they entangled in finances and obligation. You’ve brought some very inspiring and great questions for me to ponder more deeply on and I just love reading about how any nurse not only loves her job, but loves who she is and what she does in it!
Wow Jennifer, you are certainly changing the trend through the changes you have made in your lifestyle and approach to life. When we take on the issues of people around us it is very draining indeed, and when coupled with the physical demands and workload of nurses it is no surprise that most find it challenging to maintain vitality. You certainly have something to offer your colleagues by way of inspiration.
Adjusting to life has never been easier thanks to the presentation by Serge Benhayon! Has anyone thought of studying this group?
Good question Greg! Studying Serge and those who have made changes to their lives because of his inspiration.
And also the inspiration of the group of students who live in the Livingness.
Jen you are an absolute inspiration to the profession.
Being in the business for so long already yet displaying a new sense of vitality and commitment to your profession. Your experience and expertise will support many new graduate nurses who come through.
I’ve observed a similar effect when watching TV – not only do I start to miss my body’s cues as to when it’s time for bed, but I wake up feeling drained instead of refreshed.
Yes me too. I have given up TV a long time ago but can easily get sucked into my computer in the same way.
It’s interesting how we can blame work for exhausting us or making us miserable but in actual fact it is the choices we make, and the level of care we have for ourselves that is the determining factor in our level of vitality and enjoyment of life.
Jennifer, this is a super supportive article – filled with gems that are relevant to all vocations. Personally I loved the tip about walking with respect for how your body was feeling – not forcing yourself to walk for the same amount of time or the same pace as a previous day if you felt more tired. This makes so much sense but it is amazing how easily we get caught up in the “doing” of things – ticking boxes – rather than focusing on how we do them.
How many conversations at work did inspire us to be more, to share more of ourselves? How many of those have we inspired?
That thing we call TV should be called TIYS Time to Ignore YourSelf.
How many of the conversations we have at work have the solely purpose of confirming us in our being less?
It is fascinating how we sell ourselves things that are not true yet that are exactly what we need to keep going in the track we have chosen.
It is beautiful Jennifer that you can relish working full time again and I know that feeling so well too. To me my body loves working and doing less and allowing myself feeling too tired to do the job or valuing the job to heavy for me, makes me actually feel tired and less vital instead, as I found that in that case I do not appreciate the fact that my body loves working as being its natural expression in serving for humanity and have to numb it to not express this.
This is amazing, Jennifer. What you are sharing totally counters what is happening world-wide – people living in exhaustion. Commitment to ourselves is a great medicine, and it leverages our vitality.
What a great move to begin walking after your working day. I have sometimes found if I am feeling quite tired, to go for a walk can actually build my energy level. As you say, “the key here is how I went for a walk and how I went to bed. When I walked, I walked in a way that was how my body wanted to walk”. Yes, it is so important to listen to what the body is telling us, and adjust our walk accordingly.
How wonderful it is for you Jennifer, to have learned how to successfully work full time as a nurse. It can be a very stressful and demanding job, but you have obviously learned so much about understanding the needs of your own body that you are really enjoying the work now. It is so important for us to connect to the body, and let it teach us how to support ourselves as you have discovered. You are obviously now taking great care of yourself, with the result that you are really enjoying your job. And what a role model you will be, when you are with others who are still suffering the exhaustion as you used to do, who will see how well you manage your life and may be inspired to also change their approach to the work.
It’s easy to blame shift work in your case, or in my case the corporate environment for the exhaustion I used to feel at the end of a work day. I now know that my exhaustion wasn’t because of the corporate environment, it was because of what I was taking in during the day and how I wasn’t supporting myself. Sure it can be a challenging environment to be in but it isn’t the cause of any tiredness or exhaustion I feel these days.
This is great Jennifer that you’ve returned to full time work. I’m convinced by my own experience that our bodies love to work, they really do. We are designed to work and when we’re tuned into what our bodies need to nurture and support them, we can work long hours when we need to and not feel exhausted.
Great blog Jennifer. I have noticed in my experience that what tends to tire us most is not committing to life in full and bringing our all in what we can bring to it. It makes sense as we have inside us all this potential to live a very full and enjoyable life, yet we hold that back by not committing to it in full.
Jennifer, I love the detail that you bring to the way you now are choosing to live – a walk after work is not just a walk because it seems the ‘right ‘ thing to do. It is a walk in response to what your body needs at that moment, which may vary from one day to the next.
What you have shared here Jennifer is gold and I feel could be applied to all jobs. Our immediate reaction to exhaustion tends to be to look at the hours we are working yet it is the quality of our living that is key.
This is amazing Jennifer, that you could turn around your attitude to nursing through taking more responsibility of your body, your life and thus the career you have chosen to serve humanity through. The pattern you shared is very interesting regarding how many nurses choose to reduce their hours to the bare minimum as they get older. Although it is a physical job, I love what you’ve shared about how working can actually make you feel relished and vitalised rather than exhausted and how this changed your outlook completely – I’m sure this is very inspiring for the nurses you work alongside.
Awesome reminder of how much our bodies are communicating to us and the profound difference it makes when we honour this and act accordingly.
Jennifer I love everything you have shared here. I too have just begun full time work and am also really enjoying it. I feel more vital than ever and more of a part of society. I know that each and every one of us has a huge amount of wisdom to share and full time work is but one way this wisdom gets out there in the world.
This is an amazing journey back to vitality, health, self care and love for you and your body and very inspirational, thank you Jennifer. I can so relate to the tiredness and the less one does the more one feels tired also vicious circle. With the teachings and endless inspiration of Serge Benhayon it is really beautiful what changes, responsibility and commitment we can make for ourselves and the way we live that is life changing in every way and allows a true joy in our life and to simply be the love we are.
Thank you Jennifer for sharing your blog and what you have felt by going to sleep before 9pm and stopping drinking coffee. Working in the catering industry can also involved long hours and stressful shift. When I use to work late nights, I would make sure that I was in bed before 9pm the day I was not working if not earlier. I don’t drink coffee anymore and TV is not something I do either. I must watch out not to get caught with social media as when I indulge in them, I often end up extremely tired the next day.
Something we don’t always appreciate is the level of vitality we are truly of capable of living. We have in short bought into the normal model of functionality that most of society runs on. It is “normal” to feel tired around 3.00pm in the afternoon, normal to need coffee and convince ourselves that it is the taste and ritual we love, normal to have problems going to sleep (around 50% of the population have sleeping difficulties), normal to need sugar as a stimulant.
Because of the reflection of normal we get around us every day, we have nothing to suggest there is another way. Of course that is where Serge Benhayon offered something different for so many people – a living example that life can be lived with greater vitality that we would have ever thought possible.
At the end of the day, it is not work, nor physicality that exhausts us. It is the energy we run on that drains us. Walk around in pure anger or sadness for a day and see how long you last. So many people involved with Universal Medicine have experienced a turnaround in their energy levels as you have described that goes beyond mere healthy lifestyle choices and good sleeping patterns – although that of course is a large part of it.
This group of people is worth studying as a footprint for the rest of society.
Jennifer, this is a beautiful example of how by simply listening to our bodies and honouring what we feel and notice that our body is telling us we can transform our lives. And end up having more energy, time and space as a result.
It feels really empowering to read your blog Jennifer. I too have felt the change of making more simple and self loving choices in my life like regular exercise, the Gentle Breath meditation and looking more lovingly at what I put into my body. I still tend to go to bed very early but my days are more vital and meaningful – and I certainly don’t miss the distraction of watching the television.
Good to realize: To run away from responsibility does not refresh us.
Do I work for money or do I work because I appreciate what I bring to this world? Looks like one is exhausting me and the other does vitalise. Interesting hey? Because the first is looking for what I get and the other is about what I can bring.
Jennifer how easy is it to blame the work we do for how we feel? In your case I love the honesty you share about part-time work and the nursing system. There is no doubt it is challenging but it is also an area of work that is deeply needed, what you bring in now is the care and quality you are with yourself first and then work becomes not only possible but as you’ve shared a far more joyful purpose that can be handled full time. Perhaps part of school growing up, if not the entire focus, should be on a the care and quality we are with ourselves then allowing us to be of service in what ever area of life we feel inspired to work in.
What a profound testimonial for the fact that it is not so important what we do, but how we do it. And why.
I love this line “I have been gradually increasing not only my hours of work, but my level of responsibility” and I can say: to increase my level of taking responsibility did in fact increase the beauty in my life on all levels. Responsibility is the basis, the seed and the fertiliser for all my potentials to grow and shine.
Isn’t it very interesting that you did ‘give up’ on all this things that we think what help us through or after our ‘hard day’, like coffee or TV and found THIS supportive, yes you feel more vital without this things…this is worth to ponder on for us as a society! As I am also rid of coffee, sugar and a few other things I thought in the past would be good for me, I am wondering what else do I think is supportive but in fact is holding me back in my vitality?
“I have learnt (and am still learning) that my body is a wonderful teacher” – There is no greater teacher.
Thank you Jennifer for some great insights into how to support ourselves when working. Up until a couple of years ago I had not worked full time for many years and after just the first week of working I could feel how much my body was loving the routine and commitment to each day and I too have learnt that working with my body is key in supporting myself through work. How I am before, after work, what I eat, when I sleep, exercise it all matters. It was not the work that used to exhaust me but how I am during my day.
Jennifer this story is an extraordinary turn around as I can imagine how intense it is to work with the pressures of nursing where your work is not truly valued for the huge support and benefits it brings. I have been on a hospital ward and seen first hand the pressure and stress the nurses are under. The care I was given was superb and extremely caring despite the work load the staff were under but I could feel that at any point someone could snap under the pressure.
The suicide rates of doctors and nurses say it all. The pressure to work longer hours for less money is relentless and it’s time this changed. Nurses and doctors are so disproportionally remunerated and under valued for bringing care and support to people at their most vulnerable times in their lives. Our medical staff need to be taught true self care as part of their training because it is only when we care for ourselves that we can truly care for others and they need to be respected and appropriately remunerated so we do not see these vast disparities in earnings between those that bring support to people and those that don’t.
Great blog Jennifer, I used to feel the same way about work and that it was too exhausting, but since attending Universal Medicine workshops and courses I have a new way of looking after myself which supports me to work full time for the first time in about 19 years, and I enjoy it.
These feelings about work can be relatable to everyone. I certainly have felt this way even without shift working hours. No matter the country or the continent, everyone at some point experiences an exhaustion of their body through work. But, as this blog says, is it really the work that is to blame, or do we ultimately have the full responsibility for our working life? And is this life in fact actually no different from our lives at home, just with different people and in a different setting? So this points to the fact that the first place of responsible care is with ourselves, because that is the one and most constant thing in all of our lives.
Beautiful to read Jennifer, ‘When I walked, I walked in a way that was how my body wanted to walk.’ I love the simplicity of what you have shared here, i can feel how easy it is to get caught up into exercising in a way that we think is good for our body, rather than listening to what is needed by our body in a particular moment.
Thank you Jennifer and the changes you have made for your self as a consequence of applying the wisdoms shared by Serge Benhayon is nothing short of astounding. It is very sad to read that so many nurses experience such burn out. This is a profession one usually is drawn to because of the care we have for people, so to end up so exhausted as a consequence of this heartfelt vocation is quite a dire situation to find oneself in. It is evident that by being encouraged to pay attention to and honour what your body is feeling has been an immensely restorative journey that has really restored your vitality and commitment to you, your life and your work. It is quite astonishing how some simple changes in our daily activities like going to bed early and giving up caffeine can revitalise us, listening to what our bodies are telling us is the most effective medicine in the world.
When we commit to living life in full, we are blessed with a full life in which to live.
Brilliant Jennifer, you have just proved it is not what or how much we do, but the way that we do it, that determines whether we feel depleted or not. It is not how much we are doing that is exhausting us so, it is the holding back of the ‘all’ that we know we can bring. By not holding this back, we are better able to ‘live life to the full’ without exhausting ourselves in the process.
“Through this I have learnt (and am still learning) that my body is a wonderful teacher. It really does tell me everything I need to know and understand about how I am living, the choices that I am making, and that I can always make new choices that are more caring and supportive for myself and my body.” So true Jennifer. When we truly listen to our body and respond appropriately we can then make different choices that support us throughout our day. If I use my mind – or my stomach – to make choices, then I can get into trouble and feel awful afterwards. Consequences……
Having the supportive tools and techniques that honour our bodies and being aware of what is needed at the time is vitally important. Taking responsibility for our lives is a key turning point, for not only do we realise the importance of how we do things but of the impact we have on everyone around us. You have shown us all of these things in your choice to return to full time work.
I love what you have shared here Jennifer in how you have changed they way you go about your day, honouring your body and how it is feeling. I have been exploring this recently too, and have found that being super delicate when needed or honouring the strength I may be feeling in how I complete tasks or take care of my body is incredibly supportive and there is very minimal depletion experienced. Honouring and respecting where the body is at and moving in a way that is supportive and holding of the body is an art, and one I am completely enjoying feeling and experiencing.
It is so easy to override the signals of tiredness from our body, especially when we watch TV and get drawn into a narrative or artificially stimulated by substances such as coffee. It is not really ever the work as such but how we are with our work, at work and away from our work that matters, as you so aptly describe.
Absolutely Gabriele. It’s the how we are in life and the holding back of expressing truth and who we are that drains us.
Exhaustion does not come from working too much, but from how we are with ourselves when we work, how we live and how we care for ourselves. This is quite a revelation in a world full of exhausted people. There is this misbelief about exhaustion and we try to fix it with stimulants, holidays and time off, but we rarely consider that all those little band-aids are not even only band-aids but often things that bring us even deeper into the cycle of exhaustion. I experienced the same with coffee as you share here Jen, it basically was one of the sources of my exhaustion as it would give me the initially kick, just to have me down on my knees an hour later. When I realized that it was the way I lived I changed the cycle of eating in a way that made me feel sluggish and heavy, drinking alcohol that stimulated me for a moment, but basically robbed me of my energy, sleeping late which didn’t let my body truly repose, getting up and going with coffee, which was basically my day drug to cope with the “normalized” daily abuse, etc. etc. Those simple basic changes had a massive impact on my energy level and general vitality.
A blessing for all the patients you care for and all those you work with. No one likes to be cared for by someone who is exhausted and doesn’t want to be there. Your example and inspiration will bring true healing to all.
A true blessing. Yes very in the money Mary. Patients can feel when nurses do not have their heart in the job. Sometimes the nurses look worse than the patients simply because try are not looking after themselves and are drained. Jennifer is a fabulous inspiration and living example of what is possible.
What you are saying I think most people can relate to, that we feel tired before during and after work. Most often we manage through coffee and other sugary things but in the long run it will not suffice, we need to change the way we are before during and after and then it’ll get easier. It’s funny that the one thing that we need to look at we haven’t but turn to the easy solution of coffee instead. It’s time to look at the way we live like you’ve done and it seems to work very well.
I can so relate to what you’ve shared Jennifer, having come from a complementary healthcare background I did exactly as you’ve described. It didn’t matter how little I worked, I always felt tired and drained after any period of working, and thought the answer was in working less. It wasn’t until meeting Serge Benhayon and then doing some of the healing courses with Universal Medicine that I learnt how to approach not only my own life, but that of caring for others differently. It was a game changer also, and now I work more than full time in the same industry without burnout or exhaustion.
Jennifer, this is a super supportive read for everyone – regardless of where they are working or how much. In fact, to me, it has nothing to do with work per se, but how we are preparing ourselves to be ‘in’ whatever else we are doing, whether this is paid work or otherwise. I too have found simple adjustments to my life – such as going to bed early, avoiding gluten and dairy (which make me feel heavy and bloated), taking the time to do some gentle exercise (instead of the ‘hard-out’ exercise I used to push myself through regardless of the fact that there was strain on my body), being aware of my emotions and how they affect me and others, and taking responsbility for these etc. – have all supported me to be more ‘me’ in life.