Why the forty hour work week is killing us.


I think a lot about work.  It's what we do, but not necessarily what we want to do.  We work in order to finance the lives we want.  But what happens when forty or fifty hours doesn't fit in with what we want?  We force ourselves through it and that directly effects our happiness.  Unfortunately if art is your thing, whatever form it may take, your life will be a support system for that art.  And that right there is what is killing us.  We are not truly free to do what we want.  When bills, student loans, past debts, car payments and taxes all crush down on us it takes away something inside.  And it forces us to trudge through a long work week constantly looking forward to Friday.  The weekend reprieve.  The occasional Holiday.  And one or two weeks off a year.  But more and more often I wonder what is the point of looking forward to Friday if it just resets on Monday?

1 comment:

Heather Zanetti said...

Exactly. Which is why I live on the breadline so I can work only 10hrs a week in publishing (which I love anyway) and spend the rest of my time with our family, writing and coaching other authors for free. Bills and shopping may be extremely restricted and carefully managed, but we are all a damn sight happier than when I was working the 40hr week and 'living comfortably'. And all this came about because of the recession. Odd silver lining isn't it?