Under-rested

There are many genuinely overworked people, but most people are not so much over-worked as they are under-rested.

I have heard many a gung-ho manager dismiss the idea of work-life balance, and I can empathize with the disdain to some extent. For some, it is an amorphous idea spawned by lazy smart alecks who have a disproportionate sense of entitlement - bummers who want to get away with minimal work and yet enjoy all the benefits made possible by those who toil. For others, it is a ploy of the devil - after all, it is "unbiblical" - God rested only one day on Sabbath. Nowhere in Scripture do we see the call for 5 days of work, or 4 days of work. Working less than 6 days is already a form of "concession". 

There is a fundamental misrecognition of work. "Work" - as in work that generates income - has become so large a part of modern life, it has become the protagonist of modern living. We live in a fundamentally work-centric society - so much so that we perceive of our lives as between "work" in the marketplace and "life" in the private spheres, and that they are anti-thetical to each other. We think as if none of "life" constitutes work.

When we pay a bill, buy our groceries, send our kids for class - it is work, not rest.

Do you wonder why you are tired on a Saturday off-day? Notwithstanding the lack of sleep and rest, Singaporeans actually work a lot on Saturdays and Sundays - catching up on personal and family matters that they have postponed during the weekdays. We end up fighting the crowds for a parking lot, queueing for our hair cut, navigating an overloaded shopping cart through the supermarket maze, chasing our kids to finish homework. All these are work, not rest - the form and purpose of such work is different, but that does not change its very nature. It is a mere change of location and goal, but it is work. We work on our finances, our children, our parents, and our house. 

So, are we really resting? Rest is ceasing from work - and that includes work for personal and family matters. When God calls us to Sabbath, we are to do no work - not even lighting a fire! If we bear this standard in mind, it is not difficult to see how even a 4-day work week does not necessarily help us become rested if we do not purpose ourselves to rest. Let's be honest - how often do you take a holiday and are not rested (especially if you travel with children). 

Most people work seven days and do not know it, and wonder why they are tired. Are you under-rested?