Slow Down, You're Doing Fine.

You can't be everything you want to be before your time. - Billy Joel

But seriously, slow down.

There is an immense pressure from society to be productive all day every day. From podcasts instructing us how to wake up at 5am for maximum productivity, to collegues bragging to each other about overtime and work stress, society is pushing on us from every angle to do more, produce more, be more. More, more, more. I don't know about you, but for me, it's exhausting just thinking about it. How much more can we give?

Being hyper-focused on productivity, whilst trendy at the moment, is actually more harmful than you may realise. We push ourselves harder and expect more from ourselves, all the whilst comparing ourselves to everyone we see online, but at what cost?

If you're familiar with my story, you will know that as a teenager I was chronically ill for a few years. Being chronically ill was obviously no fault of my own, but I do believe that the chronic stress I was under, along with the lack of sleep and high volume of physical activity I experienced, put my body (and immune system) in a vulnerable position to illness. When you really think about it, it's sad that my 16 year old self was chronically stressed and under so much pressure - in no world should teenagers be experiencing chronic stress. The stress I was experiencing was both a mix of the unreasonably high expectations I placed on myself and the demand for excellence my private school extended over all of its students.

I have had to learn the hard way, through many years of illness, fatigue and resulting mental ill health, just how important rest is. Health is much more important than productivity. Without health, you have nothing. And good health is not sustainable without periods of rest. Good quality rest is, in fact, actually productive - productive for maintaining good health.

I have additional issues with the trend we are currently experiencing in society in regards to productivity. The status and value placed on productivity is concerning. As a disabled person, it makes me wonder about the "unproductive" people of society - the disabled people who do not or cannot work. These people are no less valuable or "productive" - they contribute to the community and the people in their lives in countless valuable ways. Yet these people, including myself, inherently don't fit in within the ideal of productivity that society is pushing upon us.

So please, I ask you to go away and to think over your stance on productivity. Is your productivity healthy? Do you need to make changes? I beg of you, please don't continue to push yourself and to face the consequences of your forced productivity.

And please, question this push for productivity. Is it truly for ourselves, or is it pushed on us to continue to place human worth on the potential of the individual to contribute to capitalism?

This is my cat Jackson. He knows very well how important rest is and makes sure to rest every day. Be more like Jackson.