IS IT NORMAL TO DISLIKE MONDAYS AND LIVE FOR FRIDAYS?

Many workplaces do not provide an environment that empowers the wellness of each employee.  A work environment that has true living wellness creates a win-win for the individual employee to enjoy their life to the fullest and for the business to reap the successes from a healthy workforce. 

We sleep approximately 40 hours a week.  That leaves 128 waking hours in a week.  Most of us work at least 40 hours a week and perhaps commute a minimum of 5 hours making 45 hours or 35 % of our waking hours dedicated to work.  These numbers demonstrate the importance of living wellness in the workplace.  But they do not represent reality!  The healthiness or unhealthiness of the workplace infiltrates to every aspect of our lives. 

Our work environment affects:

·        Our ability to drive home safely

·        The mood that we arrive home in and thus the interaction we have with our family and friends following the workday

·        What we accomplish in our personal life

·        Our self-esteem

·        Our creativity

·        Our vision of the future

·        Our trust level in both ourselves and in others

·        Our stress level

·        Our overall emotional health

·        Our overall physical health

·        Our sleep patterns

When calculating the overall negative effects from an unhealthy workplace, an individual could be giving a majority of their hours to work.  This can cause physical and emotional unhealthiness,  family and relationship dysfunction and frustration and resentment.  You feel like you are working 16 hours a day while getting paid for 8 hours because you carry the weight of work issues into your personal life.  Eventually this negativity ricochets back to the work place and your whole life has caught the contagious bug of “just existing”.  You dread going to work, you are not having fun at work, you lack creative problem solving and you feel misunderstood and not validated.  The pattern of unhealthiness is in full cycle.  In reality you are surviving not thriving!

The ‘YES’AC Series, a program for workplace wellness, can beak this cycle.  It creates LIVING WELLNESS for the individual employee and for the business. This creates success and dignity for all.  Is it normal to dislike Mondays and live for Fridays?  Yes, but it does not have to be that way!

                                                                           Pat Casey Jurgens RN, BScN, MN, RLMP