Nandhu Reddy is a friend from the University of California, San Diego.
Work-life balance. Americans on average apparently work an average of 47 hours a week now. This however is less than Americans who are salaried, whose week totals 50 hours.
That’s definitely quite a lot of time spent away from anything else.
For many, particularly those pursuing “the dream”, the term work-life balance might seem paradoxical, as the intentional pursuit of one’s career often comes at the expense of forgoing leisure. For this group, it might be hard to actually articulate its importance, because of how much “balance” there might not be. In exchange for the reward, one has traded in huge amounts of time pursuing their career. Soon, two years might go by, and soon after, another three years go by. Five years have then passed by in a flare, almost without notice.
The above describes several people we might know. Incidentally, it also describes how I almost found myself heading onto the same trend, were it not for a promotion encountered two months ago. Ever since, I have had a weekly reflection about how our society values work — what society doesn’t — but in a way that is really overkill. And I really mean, overkill. In all honesty, I wish we had more of a concept of “balance” here, like is had in other parts of the world like Europe. It is truly sobering that a great percentage of the American population cannot comfortably call in sick without feeling remorse for missing work. This is not the case in Europe, where health is valued and one is actually expected to stay away for as long as needed to recover. In France, for instance, five weeks of vacation are guaranteed, on top of twelve public holidays.
I happen to work for a great employer, but the last two months, as I’ve thought about it, have put in perspective the excessiveness of work in America and its connection to many plights. Personal distress, relational distress, sleep deprivation, alcoholism, and all kinds of related physiological defects. But perhaps most of all, estrangement from ourselves.
How about we all take a deep breath, and, maybe, if it’s not too much…a few days too. And then, using the energy we’ve gained, collectively send a request up a few channels, through the bureaucracy.
