“No one’s going to die”
A funny, painful and mostly accurate perspective on work-life balance
Recently, I found myself whining to a few co-workers over lunch. It was one of those hectic weeks, with unexpected meetings popping up in my calendar and little asks here and there chipping away at my time.
“What a crazy week,” I complained. I went on and listed all the things I had to do and all the tasks I still had to do.
A wise co-worker offered this response to my complaining: “Don’t worry. No one’s going to die.”
She said this with her usual sass, so I laughed. And then I laughed some more because I realized that she’s absolutely right.
After a few days of reflection, I’ve discovered why her response resonated so much with me. Just like many people who work in tech, work-life balance is something I regularly struggle with. I try to set my boundaries: I usually come to the office early and leave before five. I usually don’t respond to work emails past 8pm. And I try my hardest to do minimal work on weekends.
But there’s so much more I could be doing. The things I could work on, the things I could improve and tweak, and the new things that I could learn are never ending. I could work 80 hours a week if I wanted to (I don’t do this, by the way) and I would still find stuff to do related to my job and my career.
I am not alone: many of us are trapped in a culture of busy. We struggle to keep up with emails, tweets and Facebook messages. Regardless of how much we get done in the day, we aim to do more, more and more. We want to check more boxes in our to-do lists.
But how many of the tasks we do everyday are actually really necessary? Are you really going to lose your job if you fail to send one more extra email? Will anyone actually die if you don’t check Twitter just one more time tonight?
Most of us are not that special; when we stop working, the world continues to turn.
The thing is, unless you’re a doctor, the leader of the free world or a soldier, your job and your tasks probably don’t deal with matters of life and death. Most of us are not that special; when we stop working, the world continues to turn. And when we wake up the next morning, work will still be there—waiting for us.
So the next time you find yourself overwhelmed with work or humblebragging about how busy your life is, just tell yourself this: no one’s going to die. Seriously, no one. It’s funny, it’s true and it’s a reminder that we should work to live, not live to work.
