With every new year comes a new batch of phrases meant to inspire us. January planners and stationary are branded with a variety of expressions: “Slay the New Year!” “Be a Lady Boss” “Work Hard & Be Nice!” “Too Busy!”
The new year offers a fresh start: it allows us the opportunity to re-align our priorities and at least, for a while, pretend to prioritize our health and happiness. And while sentiments including the words “be nice” are, in fact, nice; there is a theme in our society – and in the products that are marketed to us – that seems to constantly promote over-working.
With new technology making it easier than ever to be connected, it has become that much more difficult to disconnect from work. Our bosses and professors can contact us at any time, and since the majority of the population has constant access to a phone, laptop, or iPad, there is an unspoken responsibility to respond instantly.
Jobs that offer 9-5 hours are few and far between, as we carry our work with us in our pockets; our email apps slowly filling up whenever we dare not to check them.
Beyond our connection to work, our society has somewhat of an unspoken competition: who is busier? Who is more exhausted?
Companies seem to promote this competition in their workers, as well. A post for ride-share app Lyft praised one if its employees for continuing to work through her pregnancy, up until the moment she went in to labour, even stopping to pick up one more client on the way to the hospital!
Seeing this made me realize this woman wasn’t working until the moment she gave birth because she wanted to “slay the New Year!” but because she doesn't make enough to make ends meet with a baby on the way. This kind of message puts the responsibility on the employees rather than the employer. This creates an environment that suggests that if you are not living up to what society views as success, it is your fault. You just aren’t working hard enough.
Similar posts quoted CEOs as not having seen their children for weeks, but that is “just a sacrifice you have to make!” The idea that you are somehow more successful because you never sleep, drink 12 coffees a day, and rarely see your children is absolutely absurd.
There is a reason rates of anxiety and depression are on the rise. There is a reason traditional family values are not as common. A pressure to constantly be working: working better, faster, and smarter than everyone around you, is both unrealistic and incredibly unhealthy. No job is worth sacrificing your well-being. No salary is worth not seeing your children for weeks on end. You are not irresponsible for not answering work emails past 6 p.m., nor are you lazy for working a 10-hour day.
Hard work is good. But so is genuinely investing in your health and happiness – new year or not.
