Because of technology, it is hard to escape and relax. You have an important job. You get paid to give your job total focus. You sometimes think about work morning, day, and night. At times you may eat, breathe, and sleep your career. You need to find a healthy habit. How about a hobby?

The number one strategy of Fortune 500 executives to manage stress is to have a hobby.

The key to the hobby is to make sure that it is something significantly different than what you do on the job. So, if things are going well at work, you can fall back on a different self concept, and still enjoy yourself personally, even if things are a little bit bumpy professionally.

Personal request, make sure it is a hobby that’s safe; make sure it’s a hobby that can’t kill you. My wife and I used to buy old houses and fix them up. It was home number 15 that just about put an end to that hobby. I fell off the front of an old Victorian home, shattered both of my wrists, spent a week in the hospital, and had both arms in casts for twelve weeks. Ouch, that hurt. Still hurts. So, please, select a hobby that’s safe; one that can’t kill you. I still buy houses, I just hire the high work done by somebody else.

So what interests you? Pick out anything you like. Painting? Running? Needle point? Singing? Stamps? Cross stitch? Camping? Coins? Cooking? Fishing? Wood carving? Try to remember what you did for fun before you had a job?

I’m sure you used to have a lot of interests before you had a career. Maybe you used to sing, and dance, and scuba dive. Check to see if you have some vacation time or PTO that you haven’t used. You might lose it if you don’t use it. It’s time for you to reconnect with yourself.

You have to make sure you take care of yourself, otherwise you won’t be able to take care of anybody else. Take some time, invest in a hobby, and enjoy balance in your life. Have fun; remember what that was?

If you need to find a keynote speaker, plenary speaker, breakout speaker, concurrent session speaker, seminar leader, or workshop facilitator who can deliver in-person, virtually, or via prerecorded session, Kit Welchlin, M.A., CSP, CVP, is a nationally recognized professional motivational speaker and author and can be found at www.welchlin.com or www.SeminarsOnStress.com.