In this week's Living Healthy, I'm once again hot on the pursuit of happiness in Chicago! With the unemployment rate up and general attitudes down, it would be easy to see how fewer people are able to find happiness these days. The topic interested me so much that I spoke with one woman on the north side who knows first-hand the disillusionment of losing a job - and yet didn't stop smiling throughout our entire conversation.
Laurie Marksberry's life pretty much revolved around her busy, travel-crazy career in the banking industry until earlier this year when she found out that along with many of her co-workers, she was being laid-off. Around that time, she found some joy in the weekly Fletcher Pilates sessions she had begun at the Helios Center for Movement in Roscoe Village. She didn't realize it at the time, but she now claims that those sessions are what kept her from losing her patience and heading into a depression like so many of her former co-workers.
Laurie says it was all about keeping control over some aspect of her life. Once she stopped reeling from the news that she had lost her job - something she had no control over - she was able to focus on the things that she could control. When she realized that she had the power to control her health and mental well-being through Pilates, she upped those weekly sessions to two and three times per week - a move she credits with keeping a smile on her face while others in her situation struggled.
Dr. Daniel Yohanna, a psychiatrist at the University of Chicago Medical Center agrees. He says that happiness really stems from having the power to choose what happens to you. It's why so many people now are finding themselves stuck in a depression after losing their job or their home. In many cases, those people can find some purpose in finding the other areas of their lives that they can control. Health and fitness are two big ones. Especially for those workaholics who might have neglected themselves while putting in overtime - now they have a chance to slow down and really take care of themselves. And of course, it doesn't have to be through Pilates (or any other form of exercise for that matter). Just spending a little bit of time everyday in meditation or paying attention to how you're feeling can make a big difference in your overall attitude towards your life.
Laurie hasn't found her next career move yet, but remains hopeful that it will come her way soon. In the meantime, she's happy to embrace her time off and spend a little more time making sure that the other areas of her life are well cared for. And of course, when she does finally return to work - she swears she'll spend less time racking up the frequent flyer miles and more time practicing the lessons she learned in her unemployment!
- Rochelle
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