How to Know If I Should Quit My Job?

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Welcome to the EAstwesticism podcast where our host Todd Perelmuter shares the lessons he's learned spending eight years living with gurus, monks, lamas, and shamans across 35 countries and five continents. Join in the journey as he brings the best scientifically proven methods for living your best life from the east and the west straight to you. The path to peace, love, health and happiness starts here.

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Welcome to path to peace with Todd Perelmuter. I'm your host Todd PErelmuter.

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And today, I want to talk about what to do if your job is making you unhealthy, stressed and anxious. This is a topic that I've personally findvery relatable. I had a very cushy, cozydesk job for many years.

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And I didn't even realize at the time how stressed and anxious I was. I had major back pain. And I had to see a massage therapist, a chiropractor and an acupuncturist.

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Once a week, each of those once a week to keep my back from getting really bad. I thought I was gonna get carpal tunnel syndrome.

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Getting all this stress in my hand. I was drinking a lot, and smoking a lot all the time, which in New York is just kind of considered normal. But I think that's because everyone's a little stressed and anxious.

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I didn't know what was causing my back pain, but my chiropractors and everyone was like, Oh, you got a desk job. And you used to play football. And you were in a couple minor car accidents. And you know, they'll still tell you anything but stress. And so for a long time, I just thought, man, it's it's those three things that'll do it. It wasn't until I took a meditation retreat. 

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When I my back pain was so bad. I mean, I was sitting on the floor, which it's like, someone with back pain does not sit Indian style for hours at a time on the floor with no back support. And on day four, my back was killing me and I was begging the meditation teacher, please let me sit in the chair, my back is killing me and he said, Were you in an accident? Or have you had back surgery? And I was like no, and no. And so he's like sit on the floor.

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And a couple days later, once kind of the stress of being at this meditation retreat wore off, and I was now in this kind of state of deep peace. My back pain went away, and it never came back. And as long as I do meditation, I haven't seen anyone for my back pain.

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In about five or six years, it just doesn't exist anymore. Because I managed my back pain with meditation. Also, my carpal tunnel syndrome doesn't exist, never had it. It was all stress related.

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I mean, just the chronic aches and pains throughout my body. I thought I had plantar fasciitis and I thought I had a stress fracture on my foot and like everything was stress related. Everything was my mind was basically creating these physical manifestations of stress so that I would not address the true source of my pain, which was my stress. The mind doesn't want you to look at the mind and fix that it wants you to look anywhere else.

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Yeah, I was unhealthy. I was stressed. I was anxious. I was coping with alcohol and smoking and you know, partying every night and sleeping too little catching up a little on the weekends. very stressed. Very anxious. very unhealthy. You know, when you're not when you're sleep deprived, you're not healthy. When you're sleep deprived, you're usually not eating well. You're usually not thinking about what you're going to eat for the week and planning healthy you know, healthy food. You're just like I'm hungry now. 

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I'm gonna eat whatever the first thing I can think of is, you know, so obviously, I'm not talking about people who have dangerous jobs, I'm just talking about people who have office jobs, maybe warehouse jobs. When I say unhealthy, stressed, anxious, you know, I'm not, I'm not talking about fear of firefighter and you're turning 90 Or if you're, you know, if you have some kind of disease, and you have a very physical demanding job, you know, I'm not not talking about that, just talking about normal jobs that some people can do and be in very good shape. And other people can internalize a lot of stress, and it makes them cope in destructive ways, or affects their health in negative ways.

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Sometimes, these stressful indicators are signs that you need a new job. You know, sometimes people are in miserable jobs, they may have a boss that's intolerable.

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And these are signs that the person should move on, there are situations like that, and maybe going out for job interviews during your lunch break is exactly what's needed. I'm not telling anyone to stay your job. However, a lot of times, I meet people, and they hate every job they've ever had, even ones that I've had with them, and thought them to be fantastic dream jobs. 

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I know people who hate every city they live in, and they move and they move, and they keep thinking the next one will be the one that ends all their problems.

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But each of these people eventually realize that they cannot run away from themselves. They cannot run away from themselves. wherever they go. They bring their problems, they bring their mindset, they bring their coping mechanisms, they bring their addictions.

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And there is no running away from yourself. So if you are debating switching jobs, you just have to ask yourself, will the next job really be different? And if the answer is no, some people think like this city is full of bad people. But this city might be full of good people. You know, no city is full of good people or bad people. 

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No company is full of good people or bad people. Every every one is complex. And every one is unique. And when you're in a organization or a city with a large number of people, you're going to have a mixture of both. So I would just say if you are self aware enough to know that the job you have is it you know, it's that job, you want a different job. 

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It's this boss, you want to try a different boss, then by all means, start start job hunting and taking some interviews during lunch. But if you're not sure, I would highly encourage you to start a meditation practice, and to use mindfulness meditation, to bring mindfulness to your job.

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Because stress, anxiety, poor health, these are unconscious reactions to our situations. And the more mindful we become of our stress of our anxiety of our health choices, then it's possible that these problems can go away. But if we are dealing with stress and anxiety in negative ways, or ignoring them, we will continue to suffer poor health and we will continue to be miserable. 

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So in meditation, we want to practice observing our own state of mind, and start making peace and really connecting with this deep peace that lies within all of us. All the stress, all the anxiety are like waves on top of the ocean. They're just the surface stuff. Beneath that there is a vast, infinite ocean of peace and calm. Stillness, joy, bliss, the really deep stuff. And the more we become aware of that, the more that those little waves on top of the ocean seem insignificant. And just like waves washing on shore to the beach. 

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Even if you ignore, they're still there. And as hard as you want to try to stop them from coming on shore, you're not going to stop the waves.

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So ignoring and forcing them to stop won't work. And this is the same with anxiety and stress. But if you start to pay attention to this infinitely deep, calm water underneath the surface, then it will shift your perspective. And you will suddenly realize that these waves are so small compared to the joy and depth in our lives.

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When we become familiar with this, calm underneath the waves. We don't make unhealthy choices.

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We don't chase pleasures that will make us feel good now, but feel sick later. Because we're not trying to fill some spiritual hole in our heart. So we make good choices that will make us feel good later. And that we can feel good about now.

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But when we are not aware of that love and happiness that we have, below all those shallow thoughts.

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We try to fill this emptiness because we're not aware of the fullness. And so a simple 10 Minute Meditation 20 minutes, five minutes, you know, whatever you're able to do.

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Once or twice a day, maybe three times, you know, you know what you can do now, you know, don't force it. Listen to your body, listen to your mind. But the more you create these moments of peace and stillness, the more peace you will have in your life, the more that these moments of meditation will spill out into the rest of your day.

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And you will notice like I did the biggest change that you've ever thought possible, you become more aware of everything you put into your body, your sleep schedule, your sleep becomes easier because your mind is not racing as much. After doing this, even the discipline of sticking to a consistent meditation translates into discipline in the rest of your life.

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So just for however long you can do, every single day, sit somewhere comfortable, close your eyes.

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And observe the air coming in your nostrils going down the back of your throat, expanding your belly. And then your belly contracts as the air comes back and out your nose and just being fully in your breath. When you're fully aware of your breath and fully concentrated on it.

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You disappear and only your breath remains. And so whatever kind of mental turmoil was going on, just disappears. And it may be for just a moment.

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It may be for one or two breaths at a time. But every time your mind starts to wander, just notice that it wandered. And then bring it back to your breath. And each time you're training your mind to just be present and not create this added story or constant mental unrest. You'll feel better.

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And you might just find that everything at work. Every single day feels new, different, exciting. And there's no more of that mind saying I gotta go in it's

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Morning work starts soon. It's Monday. And you can just enjoy every moment as new and different and welcome it and be excited about it. And it's, it's a great way to be and we will probably see your work improve, work, relationships get better, and really every aspect of your life will improve as it as it has for mine. So I hope that answers your question. Thank you so much for listening. This has been path to peace with Todd Perelmuter. If you have any questions or want to follow us online, it's @toddperel is my handle on Instagram and Twitter. And thank you so much for listening.

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You were listening to the Eastwesticism podcast. Be sure to visit us at Eastwesticism.org to join the conversation and receive enlightening emails. Until next time,