About Atlas

“A certain darkness is needed in order to see the stars.”
-Osho

Getting to work in a big corporation abroad has given me a different perspective on some things, especially given that this time it was only work; there were no ongoing university assignments or courses going on at the same time. When the day or week is over, I do not have any test, exam or presentation to prepare. It is just me, the four walls of my room, the laptop I am writing this essay on and some background music for inspiration.

Music. The source of so many thoughts I have developed into articles and songs. The source of several ideas and concepts I could never say with my own mouth as they always sounded better in my head than when they would come out and meet my ears, as well as others’. This same music that helps me get my job done, from the minute I sit at my desk until the second I am officially done for the day and outside the company’s premises.

Some people tend to find music as a source of distraction, keeping them from being productive at work. Others find comfort in it and peace of mind as it allows them to worry and stress less about their workload. Finally, there are those who listen to music while at work as they feel on the edge of the cliff, about to fall into burnout mode. Yes, burnout mode can happen to humans too.

A burnout is defined as the reduction to nothing of fuel or any substance that allows a bigger organism to keep functioning properly. This phenomenon occurs through the combustion of that particular fuel. Just like a car needs fuel in order to function correctly and get to the desired destination, every human being has their own personal equivalent of ignitor in order to keep the engine going. Everything seems to be going your way, until your internal system breaks down, due to the simple fact that you are out of energy. You have simply become empty inside.

We tend to forget that we are just humans and that, just like our world today, we are not unlimited when it comes to resources. The inflow is strongly limited, however the outflow keeps on increasing in terms of quantity and intensity demanded, and we are as guilty of it as the next person.

Put simply, from the moment we are born, we are told by our parents, teachers, influencers, motivational speakers and celebrities to always aim for the stars, to always strive for more. Hard work is what will get us to money and fame, especially when we are pushing our boundaries and put in effort that strongly exceeds our actual capacity. In a certain way, it is accurate enough when you think about it: nobody made it to the top and turned their dreams into reality by doing nothing or the minimum effort required at a particular task. As part of being human and as Maslow described, we have needs: we always want more in order to receive a certain feeling of accomplishment, to feel like our life was not wasted and that we actually achieved something out of it.

We are told to work hard and achieve big at all cost. Question then becomes: At what cost?

“Burnout is not caused by doing too many things. It is likely evidence that there may be too many things you have not been doing”.
-Ben Kubassek

When was the last time you took a deep breath in the middle of your work?
When was the last time you went out on a walk just to clear your head?
What are the things that you long to do?
What is keeping you from doing them?

Your work might be very important, but it is not as important as your mental and physical health.