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from the find-a-bigger-candle-to-burn-at-both-ends dept.
In today's era of workplace burnout, achieving a simpatico work-life relationship seems practically out of reach. Being tired, ambivalent, stressed, cynical and overextended has become a normal part of a working professional life. The General Social Survey of 2016, a nationwide survey that since 1972 has tracked the attitudes and behaviors of American society, found that 50 percent of respondents are consistently exhausted because of work, compared with 18 percent two decades ago. ... common signs of burnout include:
- Feeling emotionally drained and mentally unwell. Nausea. Being unable to sleep or constantly fighting sicknesses like head colds.
- Feeling alienated by your colleagues and bosses, feeling constantly underappreciated, or feeling ostracized by them.
- Feeling you are not personally achieving your best, or regularly "phoning it in."
"There are a lot of things that can happen when people begin to have this problem at work," Dr. Maslach said. "There are things like absenteeism, turnover, but also things in terms of errors, not being careful about the work they're doing. We see a lot of difficulty with people getting along with each other — angry, aggressive." ... If you're suffering from burnout at work, or if any of those symptoms sound familiar to you, there are a few things you can do now, before you get some time off to recover. (Although you should definitely consider some time off to recover, if you can.)
- Focused breathing, which can tap into your parasympathetic nervous system to help you reduce or manage stress.
- Frequent breaks, preferably five-minute breaks for every 20 minutes spent on a single task, or sitting at your desk.
- Ergonomic chairs and desks, like a sit-stand arrangement, or even a small plant in your office space.
- A trusted mentor at work with whom you can discuss and strategize other ways to deal with work-related issues.
- A hobby outside of work through which you can decompress, de-stress and dissociate from work. It doesn't have to be anything specific, but regular exercise or another fitness activity works wonders here, and has benefits beyond stress relief.
AI and robots don't need yoga, meatbag.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:27AM (7 children)
That's ok. Society doesn't need to fix it, you do. And you sound sufficiently wise to do so.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:39AM (1 child)
Well gollee gee you're right! Sadly way too many people are not capable of making such a change. If you want a more flexible job, or to work less than 40 hours a week, your options are very limited with the majority being low pay starter jobs.
I believe you are mixing things up and thinking that I mean society=gov. This is not the case, but gov is definitely a subset of society and it will play a role in such a shift. So put your libertarian blinders back where you found them.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Thursday September 07 2017, @01:18AM
Eh, I didn't think you meant government before when you said "society", but not I'm not sure. This is like those announcements by management of a business that one shouldn't believe the rumors that they aren't considering a merger, bankruptcy, firing everyone and burning the place to the ground, etc. If said rumors were truly far from the truth, then they wouldn't bother to defend against them. And so often, those denials just turn out false.
The two obvious questions here. First, what is the the fix that some part of society, possibly including government, can do for this alleged problem? Second, why would we think that this would be successful, particularly when done by groups that don't understand the consequences of their actions?
My view here is that the cure is worse than the disease. When someone is desperate enough to take a job that is stressful and disliked, then they probably will become even more desperate, if you take the job away no matter how benevolent your intentions. Further, if this is done a lot, then there will be a lot more competition for the existing jobs and everyone will become more desperate.
Job creation is the way out. Have more jobs in general, even sucky ones, and you'll have less desperate people and employers will have to offer more to entice people to the stressful, ugly jobs.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday September 07 2017, @06:30AM (4 children)
I believe that we in America have developed a mindset where we can simply buy anything we want... as we have a printing press!
Running out of money means we "extend the debt ceiling" and party on.
Hence, we run around commandeering other land's resources and trapping them horribly in debt, just as we are doing to a sizeable portion of our own populace.
A few corporate tycoons greatly benefit, and the only purpose our political "leaders" seem to perform is to be a permission granting and rights enforcement arm of the tycoon, so as to keep public anger and retaliation at arm's length.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:02PM (3 children)
Societies have always tended towards materialism and short term thinking. That's another reason not to look to society to fix the things it causes.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday September 08 2017, @09:12AM (2 children)
That is what scares me so much, Khallow... when this system goes, many of us are going to be like able-bodied swimmers in a flood of drowning people. Even if I can deal with all the water, how do I deal with all these people trying to use me as a flotation device?
You know... "Look! That guy has what we need! Let's go for it!"
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday September 08 2017, @02:02PM (1 child)
Hide that stuff. Then you won't stand out. Works in India.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday September 09 2017, @01:49AM
Right on... that's why most of my assets are in my tools and my ability to use them, as well as my ability to re-make the tools should they be taken from me.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]