The Age of the Workaholic
Driving home from work today, all I could think about was how I needed to get home, feed the dog, and get more work done. I thought about my work out and weather or not I could or should sacrifice the time to get that in. I thought about the deadlines that I had at work the next day and how I needed to get to bed early in order to get to work early all just to press play on that same routine again tomorrow.
This is all too typical of a routine, not only for me, but for most Americans. Over 85% of males and 66% of females in the U.S. work more than 40 hours per week. Work-life balance is seen as a privilege for the wealthy, or for those that have strategically planned their lives like that.
I am usually one of the last to leave my office. The cultural norm of staying at work until the last person has left is something that I most certainly have adopted. Why is it though, that one must feel guilty for taking time for oneself, for leaving work, guilty for working out, etc. A friend of mine posted this video by The School of Life on social media and it really resonated with me.
We need more self compassion and more of an awareness of what we are actually accomplishing when we work ourselves so hard. There are numerous studies on how a good nights rest is vital to our health, yet, all too often, I find myself staying up until the early morning for work.
Is there a way to not only become self aware of our work choices, but also encourage others to live a more balanced lifestyle?
