A Case Against The Glorification Of Productivity

“If you live for people’s acceptance, you will die from their rejection.”

In today’s 24/7 work culture, being married to your job is seen as an exceptional accomplishment. Being the epitome of busyness is seen as a sign of success. Laziness is seen as a sign of failure. If your agenda isn’t filled with 84 commitments, then there’s something wrong with your life. (Or perhaps with you)
These are nothing but faulty assumptions to live by. People tie so much of their identity and self-worth to their jobs that the mere thought of not using every single pocket of their time to overwork themselves is dreadful. It baffles me that allowing ourselves time off from work and other social duties is something we almost feel guilty to do. Self-introspection is just so out of the picture according to the faulty standards society has pushed on us.

Yet the truth is that you don’t become a better human being by putting all of your focus on external endeavours. Tuning it with yourself and connecting to your inner self shouldn’t be the last thing to fall on your priority list. In fact, it is for most people and as a result we keep on burning ourselves up to keep up with the image we want to project to the world that were sharp af. I could care less about how much productivity you can humanely fit into your 16 hour work day. You’re not any cooler than someone who does a third of what you do.

How you measure your worth as a person shouldn’t rely on your job-status-bank account number-what-you-do-with-your-fucking-time. It should rely on how much compassion you hold in your heart.Sure, you may be “sharp af” to the eyes of the Joneses, but not to your emotional health. Healing your heart isn’t a waste of time. Fishing for external validation is.

Hustling yourself to the bone isn’t any cool. It doesn’t make you heroic and any better. It is imperative that we shatter these bs perceptions out of our minds. Giving yourself a day off is cool. Investing time on working on our mental and emotional health should come before focusing on our work. The time we spend with our own person shouldn’t be spent with guilt. We ought to break free of the boxes that we desperately try to fit in to look worthy to the eyes of others.

Not being busy isn’t a sin. Humans should come to the realization that spending time alone and working on their selves and healing their hurts is the greatest victory. Collecting every work promotion won’t make up for not addressing what’s in your heart. We should stop putting all our energy into appearing like we’re cool on the surface. Because underneath, we keep on avoiding our own truth.