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The Reload with Sean Hansen
The Reload with Sean Hansen
Breaking Free from Work Addiction: A Cautionary Tale of Failing to Learn - 213
What happens when high-performing executives place their entire identity in their work? Join me as I recount the harrowing story of a friend and former client whose relentless work addiction led to severe health issues and major medical setbacks. Drawing from my own experiences, including battling suicidal thoughts after combat deployments, we unravel the life lessons often ignored by those too consumed with professional achievements. This episode sheds light on the severe consequences of such destructive patterns and the importance of recognizing them before it's too late.
Together, let's explore the actionable steps towards a balanced and fulfilling life. I share personal insights and practical advice to help those caught in the throes of work addiction begin their healing journey. Emphasizing the crucial role of community support, I encourage listeners to not only seek help but also share these empowering messages with others who may benefit. Let's unite to disrupt these destructive cycles and foster a healthier, more connected future for all.
Are you an executive, entrepreneur, or combat veteran looking to overcome subconscious blind spots and limiting messaging to unlock your highest performance? Feel free to reach out to Sean at Reload Coaching and Consulting.
Welcome to the Reload, where we help unconventional leaders craft the life they truly want by questioning the assumptions they have about how life works. My name is Sean and I'll be your host on this journey. As a performance coach and special operations combat veteran, I help high-performing executives kick ass in their careers while connecting with deeply powerful insights that fuel their lives lives. Today, I want to do just hopefully a very quick bit of a public service announcement, because I got some news a while back that a former client of mine had another major medical setback. Major medical setback and it's likely related to some ongoing behaviors around stress and nutrition and general well-being that tend not to lend themselves to better health. Now it's tough for me to receive this news, and difficult on many levels, not least of which is because this particular former client is, first and foremost, a friend of mine. But I think that there is a lesson to be learned here, and really that's the reason why I wanted to share my reflections, because this particular instance is just one of many that I've observed over the years, both in my own journey, the journeys of friends and family of mine and, of course, the individuals that I work with when I do my coaching sessions, coaching sessions. From what I've observed, the universe, or God or Allah, or whatever you want to call it, provides opportunities for us to learn the lessons that we have set before us, and the universe, I believe, based on this pattern that I've seen play out over and over and over again, turns up the volume or the intensity on those lessons until we either learn them or we break. And we will most assuredly break before the universe does.
Speaker 1:If I recall correctly, this particular former client relayed a story, a couple years ago, I think at this point, told by a psychologist, that drug and alcohol addicts relapse on average seven times before sticking with sobriety. And there's an anecdote that immediately comes to mind when I think about that, because I have literally been on the phone with a former client a different former client who had battled alcohol addiction for years when that individual crashed their vehicle into a telephone pole while driving intoxicated. We were right in the middle of a conversation that I was beginning to figure out oh okay, this person is probably driving under the influence, and then, all of a sudden, the line went dead and then, a couple weeks later, I found out that they had crashed into a telephone pole. So again hearing these stories and it's just like and these are individuals that are tremendously bright and very, very successful in so many different ways and, each in their own way, connected to a self-destructive pattern, self-destructive pattern.
Speaker 1:Now, most of my clients are addicted to work. They may have an additional addiction, but most of them, if not all of them, are addicted to work, and while being dedicated to one's work is typically viewed as virtuous, there are often highly destructive consequences with that form of addiction as well, and that really is where I guess the point lies, because my type of client is not just dedicated to work. They're in the midst of addictive behavior with their work, and this is one of the things that I think so many cultures really have to take a strong look at is how are we tilting too far? Where is it that we are harming ourselves from a health perspective, sometimes bordering into or transcending into medical, like legitimate, pronounced, intense medical problems, but then, more often, there are real breakdowns in family and relationships and, quite honestly, that is actually what I see the most. What I see the most is individuals that have dedicated themselves so much to their work that their network, their sense of belonging and community is either completely gone or it is solely resonating inside of the business place, inside the company. And that pigeonholing that comes by putting most or all of one's sense of worth and identity into one's business card is so corrosive, because not only does it make sure that we don't have balancing outside influences but it makes the events of whatever transpires at work seem that much more important and all-encompassing and demonstrative of whether or not we have a good life or not. Demonstrative of whether or not we have a good life or not. And, to be fair and to be in full disclosure, I've also dealt with this same concept of ignoring what the universe is trying to teach me to the point where I was broken.
Speaker 1:My own addiction to stubbornness and doing things my way and thinking that I was just the strong one who could shoulder any burden all by myself Led me to the brink of suicide Over things that happened during my combat deployments, over things that happened during my combat deployments. And it really was not until my third instance of having my gun to my head that I got serious about telling one of my best friends and I'm actually still not sure why I said anything, and it was conveniently timed right before I had to go get on an aircraft, this sort of like. Oh and, by the way, I've been thinking about killing myself. But that friend of mine, he immediately took action, first off by saying that there was no way that that was going to be an acceptable outcome for him, expressing his love for me, expressing his profound desire that I continue to draw breath of trying to find something that would help me. And he put me in touch with people that did help me and I was, I guess, had been beaten down enough that I took it seriously and that created this long pathway of healing. And, of course, none of that would have actually stuck if I was not taking it seriously myself. But I had been on that merry-go-round enough times and I was sufficiently scared enough times and I was sufficiently scared that I was now okay, no kidding ready and fully committed to making sure that I did not go back there, to that really dark and scary place.
Speaker 1:We all have our own way of not hearing the universe when it communicates with us in order to try to help us learn. The questions that I think are quite salient at this point are how can you take a step back to see the patterns that will lead to destructive outcomes for you and quite likely others. Outcomes for you and quite likely others. Where is it that you are still allowing yourself to be consumed by your daily whirlwind? The well. I'll get to this later, because right now I'm just so busy or I just have so many important things to take care of. What's it going to take to have you take a step back and really look at those patterns, to really confront whatever inner demons have you in their grip that are keeping you from living your life a better way? And, ultimately, how can you learn what the universe has to teach you before you break?
Speaker 1:So sorry if this one was a bit somber, but I've seen it happen too many times where lives are ruined when they don't have to be, and I don't want that for you. I don't want that for you and I don't want that for you and I don't want that for the people that you care about. So if you know somebody that's in that position, please feel free to share this episode, and perhaps the words will help resonate and will reinforce a message that maybe you are delivering as well to the people that you care about. And if you are actually the person facing this and you're hearing these words, then I hope that they prompt action and I hope that you do take that step back to see the patterns that you're swirling in, the ones that lead you back to negative outcomes, and that you really, truly confront that, that you take the action necessary to heal and to get to a good place. Until next time, take care of each other.
