How over-working is killing us (and not just in a corporate setting)
There is a steady trend that has been growing over the last 50+ years in America. We’ve taken our cues from other highly efficient and productive countries such as Japan. Most people see this as a positive reflection on our drive, productivity, and worth. We have the numbers to prove it. The trend is “over-working” and it’s killing us!
Derek Thompson calls it “workism” and warns that it is becoming a new religion among Americans. “What is workism? It is the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose; and the belief that any policy to promote human welfare must always encourage more work.”
Political scientist Samuel P. Huntington said in his 2005 book Who Are We?: The Challenges to America’s National Identity that Americans “work longer hours, have shorter vacations, get less in unemployment, disability, and retirement benefits, and retire later, than people in comparably rich societies.” (Quoted in “Workism”.)
This workism mindset is even affecting our youth. In a recent Pew Research report on the dramatic rise of youth anxiety, 81 percent of teens said “having a job or career they enjoy” would be even more important to them as an adult than “helping other people who are in need”. Forty-seven percent said it’s more important than getting married.
Where are they getting that mindset? I think sometimes we have no idea the kind of impact our silent habits are making on the next generation.
Overwork doesn’t just play out in the paid workforce. Stay-at-home moms face tremendous expectations from society and even the church to “do” everything (manage the household, volunteer at committees and functions for school and church, commit to Bible studies and moms’ groups… the list goes on). This all leads to stress, anxiety, and overwhelm as the pressures to measure up become too great.
The medical community has documented the connection between stress and health: “Generally, stressful events are thought to influence the patho-genesis of physical disease by causing … feelings of anxiety and depression, which in turn exert direct effects on biological processes or behavioral patterns that influence disease risk. Exposures to chronic stress are considered the most toxic because they are the most likely to result in long-term or permanent changes in the emotional, physical, and behavioral responses that influence susceptibility to and course of disease.”
It’s called Karōshi, which has become an official medical diagnosis in Japan. It means “Death by overwork.”
The answer is not laziness or quitting jobs that you don’t like. The answer is to find your identity and worth not in what or how much you do, but in who you were created to be (as someone once said, “we’re human beings, not human doings). Setting healthy parameters/boundaries around your time and commitments leads to less stress, minimizes overwhelm, and brings more balance in life.