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Promise

The speaker made a promise to themselves to improve their work-life balance after experiencing burnout. They had been working non-stop for over a year, including weekends, with no downtime. This caused health issues like migraines. The speaker realized they needed to change and promised to no longer work weekends, limit their work hours, and say no more often to avoid being overworked. While not always easy, keeping this promise has significantly improved their mental health and self-care.

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Dung Nguyễn
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8 views

Promise

The speaker made a promise to themselves to improve their work-life balance after experiencing burnout. They had been working non-stop for over a year, including weekends, with no downtime. This caused health issues like migraines. The speaker realized they needed to change and promised to no longer work weekends, limit their work hours, and say no more often to avoid being overworked. While not always easy, keeping this promise has significantly improved their mental health and self-care.

Uploaded by

Dung Nguyễn
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PART 2

Describe a time you made a promise to someone

You should say:

• Who did you make it to


• What the promise was
• Why you made the promise
• And explain whether it was easy to achieve
It didn’t take me long to come up with* something to talk about because there is a promise that I made in recent
months so it’s still fresh in my memory**. It’s not one I made to someone else though, it’s one that I made to myself.

*to come up with = **to be fresh in my memory = to remember


to think of clearly

The last year has been pretty horrendous* and I’ve been working non-stop**. Working from
home means it’s virtually impossible*** to switch off****. A few months ago, I was at breaking
point*****. I was working 18 hours a day. When I wasn’t sitting at my desk, I was cooking,
******downtime =
cleaning, washing, ironing etc. I had zero downtime******. time to relax

*pretty horrendous = **non-stop = ***virtually = ****to switch off = to stop giving *****to be at breaking point = the point where you
very bad without stopping almost your attention to something lost control of your physical or mental health

I wasn’t just doing it on weekdays, my weekends were wall-to-wall* work and chores** as well. The knock-on effect***
was that I was snappy**** with my family, I wasn’t keeping in touch with my friends, I was doing no exercise, the list
goes on. I felt worn-out***** and I’d had enough******.
*wall-to-wall = **chores = tasks; ***knock-on effect = something that ****snappy = short-tempered; *****worn-out ******to have enough =
continuous household jobs causes another thing to happen irritable = exhausted you want a situation to
stop/change
Fluency and Coherence - Organisation
Grammatical Range and Accuracy - Grammar
Lexical Resource - Vocabulary
One Saturday morning, I woke up with a migraine* and I just couldn’t get out of bed. I
realise now that it was my body’s way of telling me to stop. I needed a break. I spent two
days in bed and I came to the realisation** that I couldn’t carry on*** like this. My head
was pounding**** and I said to myself that things had to change.
*a migraine = a very bad headache **to come to the realisation = to realise ***to carry on = to continue ****pounding = throbbing

I vowed to myself* that I would no longer** work weekends. I needed time to chill out*** and recharge my
batteries****. In addition, working all hours***** had to stop. I now limit****** the number of hours a day I work
and I say ‘no’ if I’m feeling overworked******* and someone asks me to do another piece of work. It isn’t always
easy, but I’m trying my best********. My mental health has improved significantly and I am sleeping better. I’m
eating healthier because I have time to prepare meals instead of eating processed foods and takeaways. Making a
promise to be kinder to myself is the best promise I’ve ever made and I’m going to try to keep********* it.

*to vow = to promise **no longer = not anymore ***to chill out = to relax ****to recharge my batteries = to rest and relax to get energy

*****to work all hours = a long time/until very late ******to limit = to restrict *******overworked = you have too much work to do

Fluency and Coherence - Organisation ********to try your best = to do your best *********to keep a promise = to not break it
Grammatical Range and Accuracy - Grammar
Lexical Resource - Vocabulary

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