Blog in Brief: Unbalanced!

Photo by DavideDC.

Ugh!  Work has taken over my life!  I have this huge project going on at work right now, leaving me with zero time for much else- family, me, exercise, me...you get the picture.  Who was I who so boldly stated that I had become my own zen-master of the balanced life?  Apparently, just like most Americans, I dropped everything in my life to handle increased work demands.  There are a plethora of statistics available that look at the ever increasing amount of time men and women spend working outside of their homes. 

The majority of American men and women, work more than forty hours per week, increasing productivity 400% since 1950 (20somethingfinance.com).  The 1950's really were Happy Days!  Addicted to money, 70% of households today, have both mom and dad working outside of the home.  The United States ranks last compared to other industrialized countries in the amount of paid vacation offered to its workers.


(Washington Post: Americans vs. Vacations: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/08/americans_vs_vacation.html )

Even more studies exist that explain the negative effects of overworking which include increased stress and all the fun things that go along with that, family and community break-down, even suicide!  It begs the question, "Why am I doing this?" 

Forbes magazine writes that the happiest workers are those who have control over how much they work.  When you are in a career that presses you with demands or responsibilities beyond your control or choosing, you can quickly begin to burn out and grow to resent your job.  My work project, to succeed, required me to increase my work hours, or critical deadlines for implementation would not have been met.  Had I simply ignored these duties and kept that elusive balance, the project would have failed.

I reconcile my loss of control, with the fact that this uptick in work was a one time thing, an intermittent occasion.   The reality is, that when the next "big project" surfaces, I will as readily drop my life as I have done in the past.  Someone is paying the price for these episodes...my kids, my husband, my health.  Culturally I am driven to this, as are the majority of Americans.  We work 50% harder than Europeans.  We once decried ourselves as lazy compared to our oriental counterparts, but that is myth perpetuated.  We are, in fact, sacrificing our lives for work. 

I suppose if I lived more simply, I might not feel as chained to my work responsibilities.  I shall have to ponder this...and so should you...