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The Problem With America’s Workaholic Culture

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at BU chapter.

Have you ever felt paralyzed by thoughts about the copious amount of work you have to do and plans you have to solidify? At times like these, you may begin to spiral, telling yourself, “I need more money. I don’t have time to apply for jobs. I need to write this paper but don’t know what to write about. I can’t spend too long on this. I need to finish my lab. I can’t focus. I’m hungry. I need to eat healthier. I don’t have the money to eat healthier…” and so on.

Generally, people work to create a future that hopefully repays them monetarily. In America, money is synonymous with survival. The stress of missing an opportunity to earn more money is fear-inducing.

Having witnessed the struggles of financial instability firsthand, indeed, many don’t have the privilege of living any other way. They become “workaholics,” constantly laboring in hopes of one day feeling secure enough to relax and experience their lives that they do not yet control.

However, I wonder why we find this lifestyle so normal. We often value convenience and work ethic over emotion and passion, without even realizing it.

Our top priority is providing for ourselves and our loved ones, which we can’t do without money.

Children without the privilege of access to private education don’t receive the same advantages that set them apart in the eyes of future employers, which may force them to become trapped by unfulfilling jobs. By unfulfilling, I mean minimum wage jobs that, despite requiring more physical labor than higher-paying jobs, are overlooked and therefore difficult to live off of. 

This is where one form of workaholism is developed. People begin to hope that, if they work enough hours, they will someday have the money to make a greater purchase or pursue a better life.

Another form of workaholism is when financially well-off people refuse to take a break for fear of losing the funds they worked hard to achieve.

These workaholics formed their identity around their studies, performance, and lack of indulgence in pleasures. Fully aware but too determined to change, they continue working tirelessly while reflecting on their dissatisfaction. They are worn out by a system that traps them in a cycle of unkindness and paranoia.

This workaholic perspective instilled in us throughout grade school has damaged the purpose of such institutions. Education was once regarded as a virtue in itself, but people now consider it an asset.

When students reach college, they’re practically forced to choose between current happiness and future access to freedom. By freedom, I mean the ability to live in the moment, exploring all there is to our Earth as we please.

At a young age, we’re urged to commit to one field of study upon which we can build our careers. The value of each field of study tends to be defined by how much money it allows us to make in the future, entirely disregarding what we take pleasure in doing. This naturally separates us from our hobbies, forcing them into lesser priority if they don’t benefit our career. 

Younger generations are aware of these pressures. They have created satire out of 9-to-5 corporate jobs and consider those working these jobs to be the epitome of victims of workaholic culture.

The workaholic culture emphasizes the importance of high income so that all our creative pursuits must be monetized. To survive, writers must become best-sellers, philosophers must change the way people think, and artists must paint history. Otherwise, their creativity is shunned and their passion is looked down on because they will fail to make a living.

This culture connects “work and worth,” according to a CNBC article. Hobbies become less hobbies and more a question of opportunities. Dreams are crushed by the weight of reality. There are constant expectations in place for us to pursue. Workaholics experience this pressure to an extreme degree.

I wonder whether this workaholic culture may be a result of a disconnect with cultures of the past.

We focus on “making” our names, trading friendly neighborhoods for bitter judgments of others. We deprive children of outdoor exposure for the convenience of silencing their enthusiasm with electronics. Once tight-knit communities are now characterized by their appearance of either impoverishment or wealth, paying no attention to the lives of the people within them. Folk tales, recipes, and antiques are no longer valued.

I believe this disconnect is caused by the lack of time we feel we have to interact with our surroundings. But what steals our time is only barely acknowledged. We mention it each time we say, “I can’t do this, I have to go to work,” but we don’t fully analyze it. The fact that everyone constantly and desperately has to go to work taints our perception of life. The workaholic culture considers it wasteful when we spend time doing anything that isn’t productive.

Most people are aware that money motivates their professional pursuits. But to those questioning the source of their misery, I encourage you to make time for yourself to grow as a person rather than as a candidate for employment. If you’re currently unhappy with the pressures of your daily life, money alone won’t solve the problem. Although it’s a privilege to do so, taking calculated risks will alleviate some despair.

To live is to experience. We must not treat ourselves like machines, nor feel guilty for refusing to do so.

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Chelsea Romero is a writer for Her Campus and is passionate about topics related to relationships and spiritual significance. She is an aspiring author and psychologist aiming to reach the hearts of others through her opinionated but genuine words, incorporating her observations of the world into her messages. She is a Philosophy & Psychology major, with a minor in Computer Science, as a freshman at Boston University. Her major is heavily influenced by her personal experience with writing, being that it is her favorite form of self-expression and communication. She considers asserting identity to be a crucial part of growing up, which can be facilitated by simply sitting with your thoughts and putting them on paper. Other than for Her Campus, she writes for BU's Daily Free Press as a Lifestyle columnist and partakes in individual creative pursuits. Her interests in general revolve around literature, music, fashion, nature, and video games. She also enjoys spontaneous, unserious artistic exploration, such as personal jewelry-making, to exercise potential of the brain.