Work, Work, Work
September 2, 2009 – 2:42 pmAfter reading a friend’s blog post on taking a month of for the first time since he was in high school (he’s middle-aged), it got me thinking about why it is that our society seemingly rewards work above all else.
Shouldn’t we have other interests (and time for them!) outside of work? Shouldn’t we have time for our families? Shouldn’t we have time to maintain a sense of a food culture that doesn’t involve processed food?
For many of us the hours in an office, sitting behind a computer don’t allow any of this. Some of my friends are or have worked upwards of 80-90 hours per week! That’s a staggering amount!
Most jobs only start at 1-2 weeks of vacation time, while in Europe most people have at least a month off (plus numerous holidays). So while the hours pile up, the days off are few and far in between. And then while on vacation, most people still can’t quite let go, checking their work email and voice mail messages on a daily basis!
Hard work is definitely a virtue, but what about its opposite- over-work? Who determined the amount of hard work that is sufficient?
Maybe in the mad dash to constantly work harder and longer, in the seemingly unending struggle to get bigger and better we are leaving more and more behind?
Any thoughts?
One Response to “Work, Work, Work”
Hmmm. Yes, I do have thoughts.
I have been preaching about this for a few years now. I am glad that someone else realizes that the majority of jobs in America do not allow people to fully enjoy their lives when they are away from work.
At night after work, you don’t feel like cooking or exercising because you are tired from working during the day (for most people that is 5 out of 7 days per week … and you still have to sleep at night so really you have 5-6 hours of independent time 5 days of the week because it always takes an hour or two per day to get ready for and transport yourself to your workplace … that leaves about 20-25 hours of time to yourself in a 5 day period not to mention that you have to cook, clean, and take care of errands which cuts into that time … plain and simple that is not healthy for the mind or body and it sucks). On the weekend, you get to feel good for a day or two but many people have to work weekends in America especially the food and entertainment industry. And for vacations, I couldn’t agree more with the common European structure of 1 month or more.
And I am a person who has worked from 80 to over 100 hours of work per week consistently before. Man, I was crazy!
By Derek on Oct 21, 2010