My workplace recently had a thing about ādo you know how many days we lose to stress related sick days? Here are some ways to manage stressā and itās things like ākeep a gratitude journalā
But I donāt know - when I started work, many decades ago, it was expected youād start at 9, finish at 5. Youād get your lunch break. You are expected to give about 70% of yourself the majority of your time. The last hour of each day and Friday afternoon were quiet times. There was time in the day to hang out with your coworkers for ten minutes talking about anything, not just work.
Now youāre expected to come in early and leave late and work through lunch. Give 100% all the time, more if you can push it. Donāt take leave. Work every second of every day as hard as you can push yourself. Do not waste time in the kitchen just chatting. Why arenāt you working harder?
And perhaps weāre burning out and take massive amounts of stress leave not because weāre not keeping a gratitude journal but because we are all being pushed to breaking point consistently, day after day, until we snap.
The older days werenāt perfect. But there was an understanding that work wasnāt life, and we could relax a little at work and still get paid enough to live. Now we are expected to give everything weāve got, then give more, and not get paid enough to do something as simple as get a coffee after work. Even our hobbies are supposed to be monetised.
I blame Reagan and Thatcher but also blame every business leader since then who thought that pattern of work was in any way sustainable.