Right, fairy Zahra is back to spread the words of happiness once again. Now that I have come to two realisations, a) be me, and b) I am doing this alone, I thought that now is the time to start making of list of things to start implementing to make me happier. Surely, filling your life with things you know make you happy will make you happy. And ofcourse peoples personal happiness check lists differ. Seeing friends and loved ones more, spending more time together in a relationship, spending more or even less time with the kids, taking up a new sport, activity, hobby... list is endless.
Indeed this endless list is the thing that got me thinking, at what point does the happiness project become a burden? Like everything in my life, it can be described by my favourite graph, A Michaelis Menten curve ( you science geeks know JUST what I am talking about). For the non scientists, here it is:
There must be a point, which is an arbitary unit and different for each individual that the happiness activities you are implementing start to make you unhappy simply because you have taken on too much. If I am honest, I have seen it all too much around me where people "burn out" from doing so much, similar to a little enzyme chomping away at a molecule (thats what Michaelis Menten is all about). Unless something changes in your environment, like your support network, your job, your family situation, or for the little enzyme, the temperature, the amount of enzyme, the buffer its in (the environment) you will get to a point where you can add all the happiness activities you want, you will fail to be happier. This is Vmax - the maximum happiness you can possibly get. Then even after that you might find that you are starting to get unhappy... or if you were an enzyme... you will start to denature.
So, the key here is identifying your Vmax. That is the challenge. And so that is when listening to feedback is vital (my line manager will be so thrilled to hear this). You have to listen to those around you, particularly those who have your best interests at heart when they are telling you to slow it down. In addition, you have to be quite intune with your own body and start to realise when enough is enough. I think I am probably close to Vmax, which is why the changes I am about to implement are not going to be drastic. Where on the Michaelis Menten Curve are YOU?
Indeed this endless list is the thing that got me thinking, at what point does the happiness project become a burden? Like everything in my life, it can be described by my favourite graph, A Michaelis Menten curve ( you science geeks know JUST what I am talking about). For the non scientists, here it is:
There must be a point, which is an arbitary unit and different for each individual that the happiness activities you are implementing start to make you unhappy simply because you have taken on too much. If I am honest, I have seen it all too much around me where people "burn out" from doing so much, similar to a little enzyme chomping away at a molecule (thats what Michaelis Menten is all about). Unless something changes in your environment, like your support network, your job, your family situation, or for the little enzyme, the temperature, the amount of enzyme, the buffer its in (the environment) you will get to a point where you can add all the happiness activities you want, you will fail to be happier. This is Vmax - the maximum happiness you can possibly get. Then even after that you might find that you are starting to get unhappy... or if you were an enzyme... you will start to denature.
So, the key here is identifying your Vmax. That is the challenge. And so that is when listening to feedback is vital (my line manager will be so thrilled to hear this). You have to listen to those around you, particularly those who have your best interests at heart when they are telling you to slow it down. In addition, you have to be quite intune with your own body and start to realise when enough is enough. I think I am probably close to Vmax, which is why the changes I am about to implement are not going to be drastic. Where on the Michaelis Menten Curve are YOU?
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