These days, the topic of conversation between my friends/family and I is how incredibly busy our lives have become. It’s scary when all you think about is “What’s next on my ‘To Do’ list?” It is a list that is never ending. New things to do, crop up even as you scratch the things you’ve done.
I wonder why is it that the world is moving so quickly. I’m certain the speed has been increasing bit by bit till it has reached a state of emergency. My best friend tells there is no more sense of satisfaction nor achievement because you never seem to complete all that is assigned. The bosses, the system just keeps piling it on.
I know that there must be something incredibly wrong with our society when people can’t seem to switch off from work. I wish I could find time to swim, cycle, stroll, chat, read the papers during the weekends. However, I find myself feeling incredibly guilty if I don’t do a bit of work on my off day. Most days, either a Saturday or a Sunday is spent on work, either marking or preparing for the lessons in the week ahead.
I tell my friends that no boss will ever say “Oh, you’re working too hard, do less…” It’s always “Can you squeeze in a bit of time to work on this and that etc..” Doesn’t anyone realise that we only have 24 hours in a day? The rate at which work piles up, even if we had 72 hours a day, it’d never be enough.
Whenever I read about people killing themselves over what they think is ‘underachievement’, either having done badly at school or not being able to cope with work stress. I feel really helpless. I feel that the most important thing in life is to enjoy it and be happy doing what you do. We seem to be making a living BUT not living.
For me, when work gets the better of me, I remind myself, ‘No one is irreplaceable.” When I’m on my death bed, I doubt if I’ll think about the many proposals I didn’t complete or the presentations I never gave or the promotions I never got.
And if I’m still employed just before I die, the organisation I’m working for, is most likely to just send a wreath to my family and sooner or later, I’ll eventually be a distant memory of a person who once worked there! Regardless of how hard I had worked or how much I had sacrifice for work, it all comes to naught when I breathe my last.
No, I’m certain on my death bed, I’m likely to think about the fun I had with my friends, family, the happy memories of my childhood and the wonderful things my loved ones had done. I’ll die in peace knowing that I made time for the most important people in my life.
Below is a write up I found aptly describes what is currently happening to our society. It makes you stop and think if perhaps, faster isn’t always better.
The paradox of our time in history is that:
We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more but enjoy it less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time;
We have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgement; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; We’ve added years to life, not life to years.
We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space; We’ve done larger things, but not better things.
We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less; we plan more, but accomplish less.
We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but, lower morals.
We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication.
We’ve become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are the days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. Where are we heading….?
If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.
And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family an unwise investment indeed.
So what is the morale of the story????
Don’t work too hard… and you know what’s the full word of family?
FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER, (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU
