For the last few weeks I have had the opportunity to work in Brazil and experience the culture and the way that people from a different environment live. At this same time, I also happened to bring my copy of Thrive by Ms. Huffington as a piece to review when I had off days from the different work and projects that I was completing.
Thrive is a book about evaluating your lifestyle and learning that working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is usually not a productive way to work and remain creative and successful.
Let me add context to the change in Lifestyle for me and the other students that came along to the northeast region of Brazil. First off we came from one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the United States in Boston and moved to a region in which the average income is R10000 ($3300) per year. Students had to get used to lifestyle changes that included not being able to drink the tap water and overall having to be more cautious.
One point that I have noticed is chasing money is not necessarily the most important thing to people that live in there. One of people's favorite thing to do was to stop at the beach and just walk on the sidewalk. People want to live more tranquil lives in this region of Brazil especially compared to Sao Paulo which is similar to New York City.
Now ultimately this type of lifestyle isn't for me full time because I want to be in the epicenter of economic development but there are a couple of lessons that I do want to take from my visit and work in the Northeast region and share with you.
One the saying that money isn't everything is true. You can have an unlimited source of income and if you do not take time to enjoy it, it does not matter. Second it is important to take a day even if it once a month and just sleep/rest. As someone who goes at lighting speed and is preparing to do it again, you do not notice how tired you are. I have had the experience of being awake for 50 hours straight and then not waking up for 10 hours because of how tired my body is.
It is critical to take time to recharge so that you can take on the world. Like in the book, one of the themes spoken of is lack of creativity when working full time. One example that I have is by the end of June, I was mentally burnt out and did not have a piece left in me to write that was ready for publication on this blog. I know that coming back to writing has taking me a few weeks so I can deliver great pieces to the world.
Overall you must remember that life is a long term mission and it is critical to never let short term desires get in the way of your long term goals. Just because you want accomplish everything at this exact moment does not mean that preservation is not critical. As a runner I face this problem when deciding off days. How do I not just focus on the fact than I love to run and instead on the need for my body to heal.
We all want to be successful and to have great lives but remember that in order to thrive, you cannot work all of the time.