Don’t work too hard . . . or too little.
Did I mention before that moderation is important?
Work is a unique thing in the human world. Many people will say they don’t like it or they hate it. It is seen as a necessary evil, a way to make ends meet. If you ask someone what they would do if they won the lottery, a great number of people would say they would quit their job. How about that? All these people doing something they don’t want to do for half of their waking day most of their lives. Why isn’t everyone depressed or angry or ready to jump off a building? Here’s the funny thing about work: we need to do it. It is fundamental. In fact, people are happiest when they achieve a state where they are challenged by a task, but they aren’t overstressed by it. When I first went into psychiatry, this was called eustress. This was opposed to distress. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called it “flow” in a book by the same name. You don’t want to be overstressed, nor do you want to be understressed. Your brain is made to function in the middle.
Retirement can be an enormous stress to the elderly unless they have a plan to stay mentally busy (and physically, if possible). My grandfather used to say it best. When he was older and no longer able to tend his garden, he used to routinely say, “I feel so unnecessary”. This was devastating to him, a man who worked extraordinarily hard his entire life. He was taken out of his state of eustress by not having enough to do.
If you work too hard and make that all your life is about, you will find distress at the other end of the spectrum. I don’t feel I need to explain this stress as much. We all know it. We’ve all come home feeling like we just swam across the English Channel in lead Speedo’s. This can be disastrous as well. There have been numerous studies that show how chronic stress gradually tears down physical and mental health.
Work is an important part of who we are. Strive to keep yourself engaged, but not overstressed. And finally, don’t ever retire. I know, I know, you’re thinking they won’t let me work when I’m eighty. That’s true. What I mean is don’t retire in the sense that you cease to learn new things or function in a way that is helpful to your community. Inside us there is a basic need to grow and contribute, even when we are old and decrepit. Don’t ever neglect that.
