"Toxic" Relaxation: The sinking ship of productivity

We have always been told by the billionaires to work harder and harder every day. Indeed, focusing on work is one way to achieve our goals but in order to maintain your health and mental, relaxation is the key to restoring energy throughout the day and balancing our daily life.

"Hard work" is the advice from these successful people, but they don't often talk about other healthy habits that also help them along the way.

It is helpful to take breaks once in a while yet so many of us stumble upon procrastination. We cover our laziness and unproductiveness with the coat of 'relaxation' and ignore our failing spiral. Ask yourself these questions: "Have I done anything helpful today?", "Am I taking care of myself fully and healthily?", "Should I really be playing video games right now or doing something else that will make me happier in the future?". If you answer 'No' to any of these questions, then welcome to our concept for today: Toxic relaxation.

Asking yourself questions about life goals and responsibilities will help you find out what you are doing wrong.

We don't usually associate 'relaxing' with 'toxicity'. Why should we? Relaxing feels so goooood~ and it also helps reduce depression and stress so it should be helping me already, right? NOPE. Instead, it could be doing the opposite. You are spending all day laying in bed, not taking a shower, not doing laundry, not cleaning your room, not learning anything new, and not having anything done. In short, you are not taking care of yourself. And chances are, you are not happy about your "relaxation" and yourself as you are doing your "relaxation." As a result of these behaviors, you feel like a potato, you feel like a parasite of society, you feel guilty for existing and you panic. Welp, panicking is not going to help you either. Panic causes more stress, and excuses: "I will get it done tomorrow," "What could be harmful if I take another 3-hour break?" "I will get up when I feel better"... Consequently, procrastination. So, is your 'relaxing' helpful? No, it is toxic. So how do we identify "toxic relaxation"? Well, if you are spiraling down a cycle of guilt and excuses (like the picture above), then you are doing toxic relaxation

It is no stranger to us that relaxation is important, yet schools don't teach you how to relax the right way. Schools taught us to have "responsibilities" to our future and society, to be a "successful" person, to not "complain" about our feelings,... These expectations from society weight you down and stress you out, and sometimes, you want to get out of reality so bad that staying in bed all day, convincing yourself that everything will be okay in the hope that you will be okay some day.. feels right. Relaxation is your emotional coping mechanism. But it's not helping!

In order to feel better and make life meaningful, we have to recognize our feelings, and ourselves. The truth is, you deserve better, you are a wonderful human being, everyone of us is a wonderful human being! Dealing with your mental rightfully, like talking to someone, acknowledge that your feelings and emotions are true, getting help from professionals, and suicidal hotlines... These steps will help you to stabilize your mental and ready to take on your next journey!

The next step is to write down your goals and dreams. BIG TIP: Don't start with big goals, some of us like to be ambitious (and there is nothing wrong with that!) like "I want to make a million-dollar before 25!" (like my adolescent self thinking that would be as easy as pie) might not become true right away and instead, will backfire as it makes you think you are a failure at anything and everything. So start small, like... I don't know, doing your laundry? cleaning your room? These small tasks are easier to achieve and will motivate you into being more productive later.

Procrastination is the barrier blocking you from getting work done, making the right decision, and thriving as a human being. You are not so far from your better, healthier self. Procrastination convinces you that you are bad at what you do, at who you are, and how you feel, but that's not true! You can get better at what you do. Everyone fails, failure is part of success, and failing more means you will succeed more at the end of the day! You are you and you are wonderful, your feelings matter in every way. Don't miss out on opportunities for your dream life because procrastination steps in the way. Time is priceless and procrastination steals valuable time from your life that could be invested in your future and career.

The really happy people are those who have broken the chains of procrastination, those who find satisfaction in doing the job at hand. They're full of eagerness, zest, productivity. You can be, too.

Norman Vincent Peale

People regret the things they have not done more than the things they did. Time is like sands in your palm on the beach, when the tides take them away from you, it's gone, forever. Take action now before it's too late, for I know how much potential you have at being yourself, at being happy and responsible with your time. Defeat this cycle of toxicity in your daily life, and you will accomplish more wonderful things in your life.