Sample Article

Author: Matt Church
Category: WORK-LIFE BALANCE
Title: Are you an Adrenalin Junkie?
Word count: 899

You know you are an adrenalin junkie when...

Instant coffee is not fast enough, you read faxes as they come in, you need deadlines to get anything done and you have forgotten how to relax.

An adrenalin junkie may be found saying...

An adrenalin junkie can be described as someone who is trying to be on 100% of the time. If they have been doing it for a while, they will be literally addicted to the Rush - any attempt to slow down leads to the withdrawal symptoms we call the pit. They have forgotten how to relax.

The stimulation of the information age means we will be aroused and challenged to draw down on our limited adrenalin stores many times throughout the day. Problems arise when you use the body's emergency system continuously. You become moody, your cholesterol level rises and you tend to fall into an emotional slump if not stimulated. Burnout, emotional fatigue and stress are all a result of the chemical imbalance that arises from a society on speed. The answer to achieving work-life balance is personal management not necessarily slowing down.

Adrenalin Abuse Scenarios

The following five scenarios may help you identify whether you are trying to be on 100% of the time and therefore in danger of crashing when you stop.

Sick of stopping

Often when you do slow down or go on holidays you get sick. High adrenalin falsely maintains your immune system - for a while. When you eventually crash down off the adrenalin you have a lowered immune system and are more likely to catch a cold.

Holiday crash

When you go on vacations you will for the first couple of days crash in a heap. You may be unable to lift a finger for any activity other than saying 'bartender - another margarita'. A few days into your holiday you may be regretting the choice of an isolated island retreat because there 'just isn't anything to do here!' Used to overstimulation you find it hard to idle. You only know 2 speeds: 'On' of 'Off'. More importantly you might need help controlling when you are on and when you are off.

Saturday Sleep in

Perhaps you can identify with the person who wakes up at 7.00am on a Saturday morning, their typical time to get up, only to realise that it is the weekend and so they go back to bed. They wake up 2 hours later feeling worse than if they had got up at 7.00am. Two possible reasons for this; one is that they have interrupted a typical sleep cycle of 90 minutes. The other is that their bodies have begun to unwind and come off adrenalin. In many cases it will be a mixture of both. Later we will discuss how it is better for someone to get up on weekends at the same time as they do during the week and use naps and siesta's as the way to recover from the week.

Artificial deadlines

The only way you can get anything done is by waiting until the last minute when you have no choice but to work back late to get your work done. Alternatively you create a false sense of urgency with artificial deadlines so that you get working on a project before the deadline.

Long weekend dreams

Saturday morning you wake up restless so you get up, wash the car, do some gardening, clean the house, take the kids to play football and get home Saturday afternoon hoping to read the weekend paper. You get halfway through the front page and fall asleep on the lounge. Your partner wakes you up reminding you that you have to get ready to go out to a dinner party with friends. You don't know why but the idea of facing up to light conversation doesn't thrill you. It feels too much like work. You go and after a drink or two unwind a bit and begin to enjoy the night. Sunday morning you feel a little less restless than Saturday morning. You relax into the family BBQ at lunch and by Sunday night you are beginning to feel normal again. You know that if you had one more day off you might actually begin to feel human again. If this last scenario describes you, you may not be a complete junkie yet, but you are getting close.

What you need to remember

  1. Many people who lead high-pressure lifestyles become addicted to the rush feeling - a literal addiction to adrenalin.
  2. There are some simple ways you can tell from you're own behaviour if you are an 'adrenalin junkie' - or heading down that road.
  3. Once you have identified a tendency to abuse your emergency system you can check yourself when next charging up and decide whether you really need to turn on.

Matt Church is the author of Highlife 24/7 available through ABC bookshops and all good book stores