HOLIDAYS

“Every man who possibly can should force himself to a holiday of a full month in a year, whether he feels like taking it or not.” - William James
 

These days over Christmas and New Year are a perfect opportunity to take some holiday time and relax. Resting and taking one’s mind off work is something we should do daily and at weekends, so what is more opportune than doing so at the end of the year when the holy days also conspire to make us take some holidays also? However, today I heard from a friend who is working over this holiday break as he needs to catch up with work… This friend is a confirmed workaholic and having no family is something that unfortunately allow shim to work long and hard.
 

The workaholic is very much a product of our modern society and is nowadays in many cases the rule rather than the exceptional case that we were familiar with in the past. Work makes enormous demands on our time, not only in the workplace, but it also invades our own space and private life. How easy it is to take work with us every night. Simply a matter of loading some files into a USB drive and the computer at home takes over from where the computer at work left off. Email access is universal and we are expected to be able to send and receive work emails at any place and any time. Mobile phones increase our accessibility and before not too long we may be called upon at all hours to respond to employers’ demands.
 

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is certainly something that applies to today’s world as much as it did, all those centuries ago when the folk sage came out with this saw. It is surprising that in this day and age of labour-saving devices, increasing leisure time and strictly regulated work hours many of us still manage to run out of time in order to amuse ourselves and take pleasure in the company of our friends and dear ones. A re-examination of one’s life is in order if this is the case, and the workaholic is certainly one who should be chastened by this re-examination.