Ya Know What I Was Thinking?

Working On a Tightrope

"Maintain a healthy Work/Life Balance."

"We work to live, we don't live to work."

"No job is worth your wellbeing."

I wonder to whom these pithy adages are directed? It seems to me that if I don't work, I go very hungry and very cold, with no groceries in the fridge and no roof over my head. Quid pro quo. I get neither quid nor quo if I don't go to work and be a productive pro.

I work 8 hours a day. I get ready for work for about an hour a day. I commute to and from work a little over an hour each day. I sleep about 8 hours (on nights I'm not dreaming about work, that is). So out of 24 hours, I am awake and not working for about 6 hours. Of that 6 hours, I have an hour or so of chores and feeding the dogs. (The cats can fend for themselves! Just kidding. They yell at me non-stop and steal my stuff and drop it in the water bowl like feral raccoons if the food in their bowl looks like it might be empty even in three days; they are very proactive creatures.) Throw in about a half hour to get ready for bed. I'm "living" about 4 to 5 hours a day. Does that really seem like an equal ration of work-to-life? Doesn't seem like it to me. Maybe that's why people think I'm an unbalanced individual. Well... among other reasons.

A guy at work had a cold last week. A week later, we all had that same cold--and so did everyone at home! Unless we wear plague masks to work, which my boss asked me to please stop doing, our wellbeing is constantly compromised. "Well, in that case, just make sure your workload doesn't negatively imapact you mentally." Please see above: dreaming about work!

I reckon we all gotta work, excepting a certain fortunate few who are retired and a certain unfortunate few who might subsist on disability compensations. But can we please lay off the inspirational poster slogans? Let's just be honest with ourselves and each other:

"I see my coworkers more than I see my spouse."

"An honest day's pay for an honest day's work... not a bad theory..."

"The line between one's work life and their life's work is disconcertingly gray."

Well, break-time's over. Time to for me to get back to work, I suppose. Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight since it's Friday. That means only a few hours of work tomorrow morning. Woo-hoo! Bring on that mythical rest and relaxation!