Holidays and Breaks
People who do not like their job (or life) are chasing an "escape" or "retreat", even if temporary, whereas sayings like "do what you like, money will come" wrongly assume that the end goal must be money. For many people, working hard - typically doing things they do not enjoy and don't find fulfilling (e.g. handling evil cases) - would be means of "making ends meet", then do "hobbies" (i.e. things one enjoys) "after work".
I've hardly taken any long breaks since I got married 13 years ago. Holidays are not something that slows down my activities online, except if the news cycles slow down a lot (e.g. Boxing Day). At the end of last year I wrote about the importance of computer breaks, which in my case involve feeding lovely birds (today we had 3 types of birds visiting; we expanded the area a few days ago).
Earlier this week we added to Daily Links a story someone had shared about the stress of work - both for people who work or those who look for work (many who still work dread the prospect of falling onto that "second group" without prior notice). It's something I see in the UK; the media does not properly speak about it.
The worse or the more worrying thing I've come across are people I know whose work-related stress grew a great deal. Aside from dread and anxiety, which truly and visibly damage their health, there's also an increase in working hours and decrease in pay (or in purchasing power). Some of them cannot sleep well at night (too much caffeine in daytime, or just fear that a lack of sleep would exacerbate matters - a cyclic problem).
Working harder or taking fewer breaks isn't the solution. It might be doable when one is 20 or 25, but it all adds up at a later age, which exacerbates matters. It costs a lot, too.
Breaks exist for a reason. Labourers earned the right to leave the workplace because their employers saw the benefit of employing mentally healthy (or sane) people, whose capacity to work reliably can be preserved for decades. Burnouts or breakdowns - to companies at least - mean a loss of talent.
Tech workers aren't the only workers entitled to work breaks, but people who work on a keyboard rather than a hard physical job tend to insist they need not take breaks and they unconsciously make matters worse. They don't save time if they lose their health later. They delay the harm/s.
Holidays are about work-life balance, or "vacations" in general let people focus on life outside the workplace. Don't forget to book days off; they're a right people fought for, just like maternal leave.
In a failing economy the fight to preserve fair pay and a good work-life balance will need to match corporate assaults, which intensify as companies struggle to stay alive.
Last night I saw lawyers working until almost 9PM at night (on Friday!). Not my lawyers. No wonder they're leaving. █