The Hard Work Deception 2: Workaholic
"If you died tonight, your employer would advertise to fill your job role by the end of the month. But your loved ones, chosen family and friends, would miss you forever. Don't get too busy making a living that you forget to work on making a life" - Denzel Washington
"Reason acquires its possessions through work", this quote by Immanuel Kant was the foundation and basis of my last blog called the Hard Work Deception. The last blog, I introduced how today we have a perverted relationship surrounding work-life balance. That we have been influenced by many success stories that working 24/7, 7/24 is the most productive way to accomplish your goals and meet your deadlines. Well, let's examine more in depth in this blog on what being a workaholic is and let's judge to see if it's great for the long haul.
According to Google, being a workaholic is "someone that compulsively works hard and long hours." When you think of names such as Bill Gates, Oprah, Thomas Edison, etc. you think of how many hours they worked and sacrificed in order to have their dreams and visions come to reality. But they are the minority and not the majority. Very few people are able to replicate their level of success and in tune are influenced by influencers that are on Instagram, YouTube motivational videos, etc. that if they are not working so many hours, they are not doing what's necessary to accomplish their dreams. As a result, people are more reluctant to work more hours for a long period of time by this notion that they are going to gain a massive success by working a heavy amount of hours. You have some business owners and entrepreneurs working nearly 55 to 70 hours a week in Canada in order to maintain their business and keep it afloat, while workers are working overtime in normal jobs just to make not only ends meet, but to make more profit. But with all this working is it beneficial for your health? That's the question.
Being a workaholic is compulsive, and living life in moderation is way better than being compulsive. According to the Scandinavian journal of psychology, researchers found that there is a clear relation between being a workaholic and poorer quality of life. As you work harder and harder without being mindful of other areas of your life, your quality of living decreases substantially. It's normal to have workplace stress but you become addicted to it as a workaholic and it becomes harder to manage as you juggle between your work-life balance. Here is a list of things that affect your mind and body by being a workaholic.
Sleep Troubles: By having sleep troubles, according to the National Sleep Foundation, lack of sleep makes you have more cortisol which is a stress hormone. By having high cortisol levels, it gets more complex for you to sleep.
Headaches: Workaholics tend to have tension based headaches because their minds are strained and are not at ease since they are consistently fixed on their work and not alleviate their stress.
Gut Issues: The gut has been studied by many physicians now and is called the second brain. There is a book called the mind-gut connection which proves that serotonin is within the gut, which is a neurotransmitter which produces happiness and regulates your sleep cycles. With having higher stresses, you struggle making healthier choices with your diet which later produces a bad mood.
Mood Changes: By being a workaholic it leads to irritability and mood swings which in tune makes it harder for you to focus and feel like your normal self and have a sound temperament.
Burnout: Burnout as we stated in our blogs, earlier is a state of mental or physical exhaustion due to stress and over working. This is at a way higher risk whenever you are a workaholic and are suffering from stress-related issues!!
Overall, these are the dangers and issues of being a workaholic and in the last blog for the hard-work deception we will be speaking on how to regain that relationship between work and rest. The two shouldn't be separable but intertwined with each other in order to live a prosperous and efficient life. Hope you all have a great rest of the day, peace!