Personal Goals Help You Detach from Work
Yoga classes offer people a break from goal-oriented activity.
People who commit to non-work activities have much higher levels of wellbeing, including mental and physical health, life satisfaction and even work productivity. The importance of finding hobbies that come to define us and setting goals that we can strive towards is becoming more and more robust as the world continues to change. In yoga, we talk about allowing your day to fall away from you – to detach from your work and to, instead, focus only on the moment right in front of you. Setting goals within your non-work life has been widely recognized as one of the most effective ways to detach. Rather than having your thoughts stuck on your workday, you can allow yourself to assume a new identity and take steps towards defining who you are in life rather than in work.
Like many, I have found that sport is my escape. For years, running and cycling have given me the gift of detachment – the wind, the intensity and the adrenaline make me feel like I can achieve anything I set my mind to. So, over time, I found myself more and more committed to my hobby and, eventually, it came to define who I am as a person. Realizing how invigorated I feel as I climb the last hill on a long ride or run, I decided to push myself further by entering a few local races. Because I was so committed to running and cycling and because it had given so much back to me, I was able to set attainable goals and outline small steps to achieving them.
At work, our bosses set goals for us and often even define steps to reach them – for a moment, call to mind the relief that you feel when you achieve those goals. Now, consider a hobby that really makes you tick and imagine the rush you can experience by setting your own goals and reaching them all on your own. Resulting in unmatchable feelings of serenity, you create a uniqueness within yourself – a goal and an accomplishment only for you. In the process, you get closer to finding a truer, happier and fuller version of the person you hope to become.
Those feelings of authenticity and achievement drew me in fast. I took my small goals and allowed them to grow by registering for more significant races. I found, though, that it can be easy to get caught up in your goals and let them get the better of you – causing a whirlwind of stress from a hobby that was once your key to peace. I’ve been trapped in that cycle a few times – trying to place in the top ten percent of my brackets made me think of running and cycling as another job. When I found myself in that headspace, I reminded myself why it was that I began racing in the first place – to detach from everything that causes me stress and find complete freedom within myself.