By Diego Nascimento
In my childhood I always watched the Unibanco 30 hours commercials and every time the videos were broadcast, I tried to do the math to understand how the company managed to work six hours longer than the count of a normal day. What was mysterious until I was eight years old became clear when I gained maturity and discovered that it was nothing more than an advertising strategy.
Time passed and I graduated, and after graduation I gradually expanded my experience in the national and international labor market. New responsibilities were coming, and it seemed that 24 hours were not enough to fulfill all my obligations. The result of this? Anxiety! This emotion or feeling (interpret this however you would like) has become a real nuisance in the lives of students and professionals from many different areas. A study published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017 * points out that Brazil is the most anxious country on the planet (with about 9.3% of the population with some disorder related to this inconvenient companion that insists on prowling about our plans).
We are educated for immediacy. Proof of this is our agitation when we reboot a cell phone, a laptop, or any other computer system. The seconds of waiting to open a software or read a message in WhatsApp become an eternity that brings suffering, anguish and lack of control (there are people who even swear while being forced to wait). And the more that the “ease of technology” offers convenience, we end up making new commitments that are often unnecessary.
I know what I’m talking about. I had the bad habit of staying hours and more hours CONNECTED when, in fact, I was DISCONNECTED from reality. Working is great, studying is excellent, but there is the right time for everything. The balanced management of personal, student and professional activities is linked to common sense. I like the one who has ambition (wants to grow in life) and knows that the world will not end in five minutes and makes proper use of every turn of the clock.
Thanks to the sovereign God I was shaped to share with others how I found the harmony with reality and, through lectures and articles, I will fulfill this mission until the end of my days. And continuing my story … today I practice sports (daily running), work, study, write articles, minister lectures, visit the sick, help in church, watch good movies, listen to good music, travel and still have time to have coffee with a biscuit. How about assessing your schedule and making changes? Have courage and take heart!
* WHO study available at http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/254610/WHO-MSD-MER-2017.2-eng.pdf;jsessionid=5930D9F35F002DC50EA6BE24B41FFDF7?sequence=1