Are You, the Best You?

Are You, the Best You? People everywhere are faced with the unanswered question, “When am I working too much?”, “When do I stop?” Due to the constant increase in our cost of living, people believe they are forced into working longer and more demanding hours. People need to learn how to split their time and energy between work and the other important aspects of their lives. In the two essays, “Hit the Brakes”, by Christopher Dewolf and “Stupid Jobs”, by Hal Neidzviecki, it is shown that spending too many hours on your job, creates less time for a personal life, which creates many problems. Society has become obsessed with the demanding and vastly expanding workplace environment, so much so that quality time spent with self and loved ones, which is crucial to becoming a well rounded person, is often disregarded. Everywhere people are intrigued with different, new and exciting technologies. Technology has come a long way, and is now one of the major aspects in everyones lives. People find themselves ‘lost’ without their cell phone in hand, or without listening to their MP3 players. Many people find themselves having to stand in ridiculously long lines just to receive the newest iPhone or the most up to date computer. Due to this desire or infatuation with having these technological resources, people are working longer hours and taking away from their family life in order to afford such luxuries. Christopher Dewolf explains that whoever has had a “workaholic parent or partner knows what pain that can cause” (304). One of the major reasons for working too many hours, is to satisfy the desire for electronic toys. Everyone is guilty of having the desire to want more ‘stuff’, but it has gone too far. The people who let work over take their lives leave themselves with no time for family members, friends, or themselves; this is unfortunate, because this is the key to living the best life one possibly can. Without the interaction among the people you love, or even giving yourself time to relax, you will simply be a worker and that is all. The responsibility of going to work is important, but the other responsibility of leaving your work at the office and spending only the required hours there is also extremely important. People need work to live in order to afford the necessities, especially with our extremely high cost of living, but living to work should not even be an option. Hal Neidzviecki believes that “Slacking off, doing as little as possible, relishing my lack of responsibility, this is what the workplace has taught me to do” (279). This is extreme, although for some people it needs to be taken into consideration, in order to just slow down a little bit. Hal Neidzviecki then begins taking in to consideration that some people need to work by stating, “It isn’t about being poor. The stupid job aesthetic is not about going hungry”(279). He explains that he does not believe people should stop working and in turn go hungry, but those who work to simply just work need to stop. In order to have a life that is completely equal in all aspects, you should never put work as your first priority. In order to be stress free and happy, one must have a balanced life between work time, family time and time for self, and not prioritize. Today the workplace environment is extremely competitive, which causes stress on a normal basis. If too many hours are spent occupied on this job, stress will eventually overpower the entire body and mind. While some stress is a normal part of life, excessive stress interferes with productivity and reduces physical and emotional health, so it is important to find ways to keep it under control. Christopher Dewolf states that, “Working too much gives you stress and sucks away the time you can spend doing the things you love” (304). Such stress can not only take away time, but can also mean that the time you have with yourself and loved ones may be time spent worrying about work. Christopher Dewolf states that due to increasing work loads within every business, people find themselves searching for time to finish their work: “Endless industrial growth, fuelled by ever-increasing workloads, wreaks ecoligical and social havoc around the world. Yet our whole society s geared toward working harder and faster. The evidence is everywhere. Earlier this year, the Glove and Mail ran a cloyingly upbeat story on an elite class of overachievers who drag themselves out of bed in the middle f the night to get a jump start on their workday” (304) These fast paced and demanding lifestyles are creating unhealthy people all over the world. Christopher Dewolf quotes Carl Honre and states that “a slower way of life is a better way of life” (303) He is stating that people need to slow down, take some time for loved ones and self, and just relax. If this is possible, even if it is only for a small period of time, one will become both happier and healthier. The stress levels will slowly diminish and both work and home life will become better environments. People who are increasing the amount of time spent in the office may start to think of their coworkers as family members or friends. They are said to be a team at work, they work together and get along great. At the end of the day, the people you work with do not have any love whatsoever towards you; your family and friends, however, love you unconditionally. The workplace is so competitive, that it is extremely hard to form friendships because the work you do is for you, not for your coworkers. Hal Niedzviecki explains a personal experience about his father: “He started his working life at 13 in Montreal. He’s 55 now. His employer of 12 years forced him to take early retirement. The terms were great, and if he didn’t own so much stuff (and want more stuff) he could live comfortably without ever working again. But he feels used, meaningless, rejected” (279). This is a perfect example: his father had trust in his boss, he worked too many hours and felt his coworkers were his family. People cannot replace their family with the people they work with, because you need the diversity in your life between work and home. It is difficult to imagine how the personalities and lives of many people would change if they did not work as much. Within the two essays, “Hit the Brakes”, by Christopher Dewolf and “Stupid Jobs”, by Hal Neidzviecki, it is said that many people find that they need to work as much as they do in order to survive in the world today. There is a possibility that some people actually do try to work less. However the majority of people do find some sort of comfort in work and will continue to live within their fast paced lifestyles.

Works Cited

Dewolf, Christopher. “Hit the Brakes.” Canadian Context. Eds. Sarah Norton, Nell Waldman. Toronto, ON: Thomson Nelson, 2007. 303-306
Niedzviecki, Hal. “Stupid Jobs Are Good to Relax With.” Canadian Context. Eds. Sarah Norton, Nell Waldman. Toronto, ON: Thomson Nelson, 2007. 274-281. Print

Cited: Dewolf, Christopher. “Hit the Brakes.” Canadian Context. Eds. Sarah Norton, Nell Waldman. Toronto, ON: Thomson Nelson, 2007. 303-306 Niedzviecki, Hal. “Stupid Jobs Are Good to Relax With.” Canadian Context. Eds. Sarah Norton, Nell Waldman. Toronto, ON: Thomson Nelson, 2007. 274-281. Print