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We have all been sold a lie. The major regrets people give when they are near death, are all linked to work. They wish they had been a better more active parent
by waboremo 4y ago
We have all been sold a lie. The major regrets people give when they are near death, are all linked to work. They wish they had been a better more active parent, they wish they had spent more time with family and friends. Where do these people spend most of their time? Work. Where do they regret spending most of their time? Work.
It's funny, you suggest the idea that "work" is a farce and people act as if you're recommending they stay still until they die. We cannot even fathom a life without "work" as it currently exists. To remind readers, when faced with imminent death, the biggest regret is work. Yet we prevent access to integral institutions based on whether someone is employed, we judge others based on where they are employed, the entire education system is based on funnelling people to work more, and we view homeless people as subhumans who just need to find a job.
Until we reevaluate the entire modern idea of "work", the discussion of "burnout" will continue being fruitless. There will only be yet another temporary solution to sell you on, another form of therapy to attempt and then feel guilt over, another career change you don't want to drag your family through.
- mancerayder 4y ago>Until we reevaluate the entire modern idea of "work", the discussion of "burnout" will continue being fruitless. There will only be yet another temporary solution to sell you on, another form of therapy to attempt and then feel guilt over, another career change you don't want to drag your family through. But think of the productivity hacks that are possible! We're just not telling ourselves the right thing. Cognitive worksheets. The Secret. Microdosing. We'll get it eventually! Musk and Jobs got it. We just have to hack it.
- l3uwin 4y agoWhat if I can't afford 2 new organs or hair plugs tho
- capitalsigma 4y agoDo you think subsistence farmers had better work life balance?
- weakfish 4y agoI don’t have time to give a super in depth answer as I’m mobile - remind me tomorrow and I can - but the novel Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkenan I believe addresses this. They, in a sense, did actually as they relied more on natural clocks that started and stopped the day. I don’t remember the fine details, so I will try to edit with an elaboration tomorrow.
- throwaway74829 4y agoHaving worked both "grueling" manual labor jobs and "stressful" white collar work: I would rather be an ape living in some rain-forest. I don't want to have complex thought. I don't want to have to perform feats of self-flagellation everyday in order to survive. I don't want to be forced to spend the entirety of my very short life in relative isolation, making some other ape filthy rich so he can escape the absurdity and emptiness of existence. Let me hunt for other small animals with my tribe -- and then spend the rest of my time loafing about. I don't feel like contorting my body and mind as a glorified circus animal in order to get that metaphorical bread.
- beebeepka 4y agoI know what you are trying to say but just a reminder that rain forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate. Logic doesn't add up. First you rely on experience to say work sucks but then turn around and pick ape life even though you only have the vaguest idea what's like to be one.
- 4y ago
- tgv 4y ago> They wish they had been a better more active parent, they wish they had spent more time with family and friends. Where do these people spend most of their time? Work. Where do they regret spending most of their time? Work. I don't think you have much evidence for that, do you? A 40 hour work week does take up time, but still leaves enough time for other activities. Most people don't die during their working life either. Sure, working more isn't healthy, but work is unavoidable the way society is organized. Until you're willing to give up running water and supermarkets, you're going to have to work. There's not going to be a reevaluation of the modern idea of work. All you can do is limit the excesses. So, unionize.
- account42 4y ago> A 40 hour work week does take up time, but still leaves enough time for other activities. How much is enough time? > Most people don't die during their working life either. But they do tend to have kids long before retiring. Work is unavoidable, yes, at least until we can automate everything. But are 40 hour weeks unavoidable for our currently standard of living? I doubt it.
- tgv 4y agoHow much is enough? With the dwindling labor force, 40 hours is going to be the minimum. Automating everything is a pipe dream. It's really hard, the break-through tech isn't there, and there are not enough engineers to build robots for all those tasks.
- chrisandchris 4y ago> [..] A 40 hour work week does take up time, but still leaves enough time for other activities. [...] And then, there are all these (low-paid) jobs where 40 hours won't keep you alive, all those people that need to commute an hour each way and so on. And the , it's easily a 50-60 hours/week if you take door-to-door time. Yes, change your life and get something better. But that's sometimes not so easy.
- tgv 4y ago
- grecy 4y agoMy dad is 71 and we just did an awesome remote wilderness adventure together. He just said if he could have his life over again he would work less and do more fun stuff. I take that to heart.