Declutter: what work life taught me about emotional well-being

I'm currently sitting at the nearby hawker center, 7 minutes walk away from my place here in the heartland, chilling, finishing up a random project my friends decided to take part in, starring into open space - people watching , trying to recover from an anticipated burnout. 

October so far has been consistently high tempo at work; an expanded job scope with constant influx of new information, trying to grasp new knowledge as quickly as possible, battling with time management - all that sort of work stuff. While it's been super productive with the work community being really kind to me, I think my mind is overstimulated lol. 

Upon some reflection and a lot of daydreaming, I feel working has made me more emotionally aware. Perhaps due to the nature of work I'm in? I'm not complaining though haha. 

(Okok yaya I know I keep talking about work but I'm reflecting ok :P) 

In a way, I think I have become more (IRONICALLY..) chill, forgiving and understanding as a person? Of course I have my bad days (well everyone has..) yet overall, I like to think that I've become a little more positive than I used to be. I only wish that I had a personality type that derived energy from socialising with people…. 

Here's three quick takeaways work has taught me in taking care of myself emotionally: 

(1) Putting yourself first 

Sounds selfish but it's perhaps it's the most unselfish thing you can ever do for anyone. Putting yourself first means you're caring about your own physical and mental well-being, taking ownership of what you do and letting others know you're accountable for yourself. 

The people you care about need not constantly worry about you and in some way, you emit good energy to the people around you. You know how emotionally draining it can be to talk to someone who is unhappy all the time.

(2) Learning to listen openly, not be afraid to ask questions 

It pays to be human - anywhere, as a colleague, a friend, etc. Knowing everyone is human and treating them as emotional beings can make an entire conversation genuine and trusting. Attention can be so hard to obtain these days with so much stimuli from social media and with the presence of a phone. Listen intently and ask questions to clarify, it pays to be interested and attentive. While it is true that not everyone would think or treat you likewise, but being kind to yourself makes a world of a difference. 

(3) Everyone is on their own journey 

While the rat race culture is perhaps never going away in this Singaporean society(I for one have partly succumbed to it) I think it's important to know that everyone have different goals and different pursuits. It's so easy to gun down people's goals that could be differently from you or tell others to "suck it up" when they go through difficult times.. Yet everyone's personal struggles are highly individualistic.

People have their bad days, and that's okay - there will be cancelled appointments, missed texts because someone is busy, had a bad day, or need to chill in general and that is totally normal. When complains happen, sometimes people just need to, doesn't mean they're terrible people. Not being idealistic, however, learning to filter out the noise and see the good in people in turn points your outlook to the world to be more positive . 

Yup, ok that's it, gonna chill the rest of this weekend :)