I found this article from Utne Reader on embracing leisure to be spot on. We in the U.S. over-value over-work, and undervalue — even demean — taking downtime.
Referencing pre-industrial times during which productivity ultimately equated to survival, the article plainly reminds us that:
… here we are, the beneficiaries of unprecedented abundance, and most of us are still working as if our lives depended on it.
And while some of us might say that our lives do depend on it — multiple part-time or freelance jobs to make ends meet — there is no question that we live in times of unprecedented abundance when, theoretically, we shouldn’t need to idealize working ourselves to the bone. We are further told that “we’ve been duped to believe that work is a virtue.”
Indeed.
Health Impacts of Excessive Hours (Stress, and More)
If you aren’t aware of the health impacts of our excessive work habits, consider this article from Harvard Health, referencing a 2015 study on 500,000+ workers, adjusting for “individual workers’ differences due to health behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity” and other factors. Their findings:
… those who worked more than 55 hours per week had a 13% greater risk of a heart attack, and were 33% more likely to suffer a stroke, compared with those who worked 35-40 hours per week.
Eye-opening, don’t you think?
Don’t we boast about our sleep-deprived nights of putting in all hours at the job? Don’t we lionize our “work ethic” as a source of pride? Don’t most of us choose to take money (for more work) over time off (to unwind) — even if we aren’t pressed to the max for those additional funds?
Do click over to the article and the underlying study. It’s very informative.
Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa
I look at my own life, current and past, including
- my New England upbringing with enormous emphasis on work ethic;
- 20+ years in the corporate world, accepting 60- and 70-hour work weeks as “normal” — a matter of “paying your dues;”
- bringing my phone with me on vacation (checking emails), despite telling clients I was unavailable;
- and feeling a measure of guilt when I did take time off.
My guilt during occasions of leisure time?
Largely, that was during years when I was post-corporate and an independent worker (more than 15 years now), and every dollar really did count due to my single-parent status, the absence of any semblance of “security” working freelance, and worry over periods of unemployment and underemployment.
Nevertheless, I also recognize the cultural forces at work, and the psychological conditioning of my younger years that impressed on me that “work” was good, “hard work” even better, and leisure time, well, for the very rich. How strange is that, really?
Your (Healthy) Menu, My (Healthy) Menu
Considering the negative health impacts of our over-valuing of over-work — stress, sleep deprivation, the erosion of relationships — shouldn’t we rethink our priorities? Shouldn’t we, at the very least, try to step back and embrace our leisure time? Shouldn’t we turn the phones off, leave the emails unread, and try to appreciate whatever downtime we can?
We may not all be able to take a vacation to the mountains, the beach, or that bustling city in Europe or Asia we’ve always wanted to explore. Maybe our downtime is spent relaxing at home with the latest bestseller, listening to Debussy or Mahler, puttering around in the garden, cruising our favorite sites to pick out a few new pillows for the living room sofa, or trying on fabulous shoes in a local boutique you usually stroll right by.
And maybe that relaxation time is as simple as taking a walk in your neighborhood without looking at the time, without glancing at your smartphone, and without your earpiece in to talk with co-workers.
In my case, I would order up one of each!
Unwinding Takes Many Forms. Why Not Embrace It?
I’m reminded of something I wrote a few years back on our cultural tendency to choose bucks over the Bahamas — in other words, precisely this inclination to pour ourselves into our jobs, excessively, sometimes at the cost of our families, not to mention our health.
How little progress we seem to have made. Why?
Is it a matter of a shifting, insecure workforce marketplace that puts increasing pressure on us? A matter of rising costs, for example in healthcare, such that we feel we need an ever-expanding amount of money just to get by? Is it the gradual, growing pressure of participation in social media that keeps us doing, doing, doing and overdoing in the public promotional square, rather than relaxing?
I’m also reminding myself of this important lesson, too easily forgotten: Work is not “life” even if it is work we love, meaningful work, and work that is necessary to pay our bills. “Life” is the more important piece of the work-life balance that we seek.
I welcome your thoughts.
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Amen. Though I am far from a good example. I worked two 20+hour-a-week jobs (yes more than 40 hours) durlng college and graduated in three years. Not by choice but obligation. And I have zero friends from college because I never went out or had fun. Big regret.
The only thing to change this is regulation. Otherwise those who have family, friends, romantic interests or just interests will be punished for not working as much as those who are married to their jobs. With no regard to how well anybody works, because that is too subjective and too hard (though possible) to judge objectively. So much easier to tally up face time n the office. People should work some reasonable number of hours and that’s it. 30, 35, 40, whatever. If your work isn’t done, either you’re incompetent or your boss is, for underestimating the time needed to finish.
One of my worst bosses ever (Rich H.!!! known to everyone as the dick) saw three categories of people: singles, who had unlimited time to dedicate to work; mothers, who, if they ever missed so much as 15 minutes because of their children were irreparably incompetent; and fathers, who could do no wrong, even if they regularly came in late, left early and did nothing in between. The only good thing about this dick, I mean Rich, is that he didn’t differentiate between single men and single women–they were all at his beck and call equally and no amount of money spent reserving vacations months ahead would stop him from declaring someone should cancel everything just in case, because their plans didn’t REALLY matter. It all makes me so glad not to work there anymore, even though the head office would have fired him in a flash if anybody had had the guts (no, not me) to tell on him, because the company overall was very fair.
Yikes. That is an insane college schedule that you maintained. I do note that you clarified “not by choice but obligation.“ Nevertheless…
Your old boss sounds like a real piece of backwards misogynistic work.
And yeah, something in the 30 to 40 or even 45 hours a week would still leave time for a life. And having only typically to use 10 days of vacation, when you have a “regular“ employer, some of those days often used for family obligations or doctors appointments, is also insane.
My French and Belgian friends were always astounded at the American system. They thought it made no sense. Funny! They were quite right.
With contract work I have no paid vacation. I admit I have lost pay for doctors visits and necessary obligations, and that I also put off medical stuff because I’m just working and with no paid time off … Mental and physical health are deteriorating, the physical health because it’s hard to make time and lose pay to see a doctor with no paid time off. The mental health because of just the relentless nature of it all.
A contractors life is such a hard life. Makes no sense to even meet basic human needs is right. Even 10 days of vacation time would be vastly appreciated. I see paid time off not as a want (maybe at the 6 week European level, but not at the level Americans get if they are lucky) – but as a basic need.
Yes. Agreed, on all points.
I’m working in Real Estate as a Transaction Coordinator (office job with hourly pay, no benefits) and also as a Realtor on the Team holding Open Houses, taking out Buyers, writing purchase offers late at night, etc. so my weekends and weekdays tend to blend into 24/7.
Since my office job is not nearly enough to support me and my younger 2 kids who recently moved back in with me to pay off their college loan debt – I work as much as possible and lead generate (no pay for that!) to try to get more real estate clients. Real Estate is a field where when you money depends on commissions that are split with your broker and Team Leader(in my situation) and there are 10,000 other realtors who are glad to take out your clients any time of day or night – it’s a whole lot of pressure. And I rarely take breaks or vacations due to needing to produce more income.
I get it, Nancy Kay. In certain circumstances, there really is little choice but to work as much as you possibly can just to cover the bills. Even if there are no vacations, I hope you have some healthy ways to unwind when you can. Even if only for an hour or two here and there.
If you don’t have your health, you can’t help anyone else, much less yourself, obviously.