Tired? That is an understatement. A life and happiness coach in Singapore shares how we should tackle fatigue and overcome it healthily

Singapore recently got voted the most “fatigued” country in the world. As an eternal optimist, it shatters me to think that this beautiful island has created the world’s most tired, fatigued, workaholic, addicted to the internet, sleep-deprived individuals. Based on studies of data accumulated over the globe, we ranked second in the most number of hours worked in the year, third-highest country of individuals using the internet daily, and first in the world of being perpetually fatigued.

Are we choosing tired as our default feeling?

See also: The World’s Most And Least Stressful Cities In 2021

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Why We Feel So Fatigued

Recently I spoke to a friend who is a frontliner in Singapore. She dedicates all her energy and time to her job, sacrificing time spent with family and friends for the good of the community. As an ER doctor, with ungodly work hours, she is fatigued. As a non-Singaporean, she can’t leave the country so easily, and her team constantly fears catching the virus impacting their job. This constant emotional rollercoaster—knowing how important your role as a frontline worker is, versus the impact on your own mental health and overall sense of fatigue and burnout is never-ending. My friend heals by sleeping early when she can, waking up at 5am, meditating and journaling. Yet, I can’t begin to fathom the strain on her physical and mental health over time. In some ways, we are all facing this crisis here in Singapore.

As frontline workers, educators, or even people with the most mundane desk job, we all battle similar feelings. We get sucked into a black hole of communal cribbing where we dish the dirt on what’s going wrong in our lives. I can’t recall a conversation with friends that doesn’t start with the negative impact of Covid in Singapore and end with the same theme. Are we choosing this, does it make us relate to each other. Do we need to vent to feel better, or are we spending too much time just focusing on the negative?

The studies showing people in Singapore as the most tired in the world, I believe is the result of battling similar feelings of gratitude for what we have, and yet feeling wiped out with little motivation to get up in the mornings. As a happiness coach and advocate of seeing the silver lining in every situation, I think it is a daily journey to tackle what life throws at you. Looking in the future or even into the next month can be with immense trepidation that would even cause the most positive person to harbor some anxiety. 

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Perspective

Perspective also plays a huge role in helping us to see further than what is directly in front of us. If on the surface, I feel trapped on this island, burdened by restrictions, and constantly fatigued by the mundane routine—I can feel my chest constricting and heart racing. And don’t get me wrong, I absolutely feel like that at moments. And I identify that as the lows in my day or my week. Some days it’s a fleeting sensation, and other times it hangs around like an unwanted visitor for a few days.

It is valid to have these feels, but our behaviour to wallow or react negatively might not always be the most productive. Fatigue, or constantly feeling tired is also contagious. The New York Times famously wrote about languishing as the predominant feeling of 2021, and while that insight into labelling this “meh” feeling feels like we discovered a huge secret, also allows us to band together with others to languish even louder.

Expressing ourselves and noticing how we feel is extremely powerful and necessary to our mental well-being. But I would rather advocate how we can find the steps after acknowledging fatigue. We don’t need to pretend like it doesn’t exist but find more opportunities to spread joy and notice the small and wonderful things that are still happening around us.

See also: How to Be Happy, According to a Life and Happiness Coach in Singapore

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Ditch the fatigue

In Singapore, we are tired of being tired, and so often our default answer to how we feel is a mediocre deflated balloon of a feeling. I know I can easily slip into a self-absorbed low in feeling, especially when people around me feel as fatigued as I do. Conversely, can we say we feel tired with a side of gratitude for something? There isn’t anyone spared of feeling fatigued, so we can all assume we are riding the same train.

Try before answering “tired”, to identify one more feeling. It might change how you actually feel. Fatigue, demotivation, tiredness is not going away any time soon, and accepting that is important. But maybe it’s the new way of life, where some greater power is forcing us to still notice the good around us.

See also: Is Too Much Mindfulness Bad for You?

What should we do?

Through Getting to Happy, a box set of 31 cards detailed with activities and ideas to boost happiness that I created, you might be able to conjure up a little glimmer of positivity.

We can start with getting more sleep. Inculcating an evening routine to get adequate sleep is paramount in order for us to physical feel less tired and have more energy. Train your brain by playing sleep music before hitting the sack, distancing from your phone at least an hour before bed, using lush silky pillows and bedding, taking a hot shower, reading a book and practising meditation.

We need to also limit the tech—applying screen time limits to apps that are draining productivity and time spent with others or towards hobbies that genuinely make you feel better is important. Singapore might just be one small island, but we have the beach, greenery, parks, hiking trails, paddle boarding, canoeing—so get outdoors for fresh air!

And lastly, practise gratitude every day. You can absolutely feel tired and fatigued, but it doesn’t have to be our only setting. Let’s make Singapore the most tired country in the world with a side of blue skies, clean air, kids in school, access to healthcare and whatever else you can notice in your lives. 

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