Are you a workaholic?

Workaholism

“Workaholism, just like other addictions, is intergenerational.  Many of us have learned it at home from our mothers and fathers, and we cannot even imagine any other way of being in this world.”

                                  Anne Wilson Schaef

         I grew up with parents who had lived through the Great Depression.  My father’s family lost their business and then their home.  He went to work in a stone quarry at fifteen, as he put it, “making little stones out of big ones.”  Even as a child, he was the one who rose before daylight, lit the wood stove and milked the cow before going to school.  He was still working full-time when he died at almost seventy-five, and full-time meant about fourteen hours per day.

         Workaholism is every bit as much an addiction as alcoholism.  When we use work as a way of not dealing with other necessary things in our lives, like relationships, we are “using.”  And because work is tied to acquiring the necessities of life—food, clothing, shelter—we feel justified, and even sanctimonious in our single-minded pursuit.  I say ‘we’ because I am one of those addicts.  “Hi, I’m Jane.  I’m a workaholic.”

         These days of insecurity in our economic outlook are causing many workaholics to redouble their efforts to crank out money out of fear of future necessity.  And, you must admit, economic collapse is a real possibility.  The problem is not in desiring a way to assist oneself financially; it is in how we go about doing it.  In other words, it is not the quality of the effort, it is the quantity.  When we work from sun-up to bed-time, and then feel reluctant to put down our responsibilities in order to sleep, that is an addiction.  Workaholism is driven by anxiety.

         For any addiction, the first step is recognizing one’s powerlessness.  Workaholism is in my genes; it is not just second nature, it is first nature.  It is the way I am.  But like any addiction, it is deadly.  And, like any addiction, I have choices in the way I deal with it.  I can break the intergenerational chain of workaholism, and learn a different way of life.  I can ask for help from others who are managing this affliction.  I can ask my higher power to assist me. 

         If you know that workaholism is in your blood and bones, I’d like to hear from you.  We can offer each other support. 

        

                                  In the spirit,

                                  Jane