I recently had a phone conversation with a women who was intelligent, ambitious and over worked. As I listened to her tell me about everything that she was doing, I was amazed at the level of success that she had achieved. It was the typical story. She had a rough start in life and had lived through many challenges while trying to bring up her children on her own.
Yet she had never given up on wanting more out of life and today she seemingly had it all. The house, partner and a job she loved in an upper management position because she jokingly said she could tell others what to do. From the outside, she seemed to be living the good life. On the inside, she was dealing with major health issues. As I listened to her tell me about all the doctors that she had been to see about her different health problems, I could tell that she had stretched herself to the limit and her body was giving her the warning signs to slow down and bring some balance into her life.
She was on several types of medications, for things like high blood pressure, thyroid problems, and pain in her joints. Some mornings she told me that she had a hard time to get out of bed because of back and leg pain. She had appointments with her therapist to talk out her anxiety problems and to manage her depression pills. She had been going to see different specialists about different problems, as if one doctor could only fix one part of the body and then another doctor could hopefully fix another. In one week, she had seen several doctors, had extensive testing done and was given more pills to alleviate her symptoms. I listened in disbelief, wondering if her different doctors ever compared notes on her health.
The one thing that they have all been telling her is that she needs to get some exercise, eat better, lose weight, stop smoking and get rid of some of her stress, but she told me that she did not have time for that at this point in her life. She was too busy to prepare meals with her kind of job that required travel, major stress and long hours siting at a desk. She certainly did not have time to exercise, although she had bought a really expensive exercise bike that she hoped to use some day. It seemed like a valid point but as I listened to her, I felt that she had lost her way, like so many women, who are walking around stressed, sick and confused about their lives, wondering why their success is not bringing them happiness.
This is the type of story that so many women are living, as if there is no end to what they can do and achieve. Unfortunately for too many, they lose their health trying to climb that never- ending ladder of success. Somehow the world has given women a few too many mixed messages about who they are and what they should be doing to live in that place called happy.
Yet she had never given up on wanting more out of life and today she seemingly had it all. The house, partner and a job she loved in an upper management position because she jokingly said she could tell others what to do. From the outside, she seemed to be living the good life. On the inside, she was dealing with major health issues. As I listened to her tell me about all the doctors that she had been to see about her different health problems, I could tell that she had stretched herself to the limit and her body was giving her the warning signs to slow down and bring some balance into her life.
She was on several types of medications, for things like high blood pressure, thyroid problems, and pain in her joints. Some mornings she told me that she had a hard time to get out of bed because of back and leg pain. She had appointments with her therapist to talk out her anxiety problems and to manage her depression pills. She had been going to see different specialists about different problems, as if one doctor could only fix one part of the body and then another doctor could hopefully fix another. In one week, she had seen several doctors, had extensive testing done and was given more pills to alleviate her symptoms. I listened in disbelief, wondering if her different doctors ever compared notes on her health.
The one thing that they have all been telling her is that she needs to get some exercise, eat better, lose weight, stop smoking and get rid of some of her stress, but she told me that she did not have time for that at this point in her life. She was too busy to prepare meals with her kind of job that required travel, major stress and long hours siting at a desk. She certainly did not have time to exercise, although she had bought a really expensive exercise bike that she hoped to use some day. It seemed like a valid point but as I listened to her, I felt that she had lost her way, like so many women, who are walking around stressed, sick and confused about their lives, wondering why their success is not bringing them happiness.
This is the type of story that so many women are living, as if there is no end to what they can do and achieve. Unfortunately for too many, they lose their health trying to climb that never- ending ladder of success. Somehow the world has given women a few too many mixed messages about who they are and what they should be doing to live in that place called happy.
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