Finding a work-life balance is nothing new to our society. But now coupled with the strangeness of the pandemic, clearly stress is becoming more than an occasional part of the formula. The change in how one works has not been this profound in the memory of our current population. I cannot answer for those who went through the Depression or the full-scale changes during World War II, but for those of us who were raised post-war, we have not seen the changes in employment now taking place.
Finding the right balance in work-life has become dramatically more difficult during the pandemic. Workers are experiencing major changes in their job lives, be it change of location, isolation, termination, or just not being in the usual workplace environment.
Studies show that a record number of people are leaving or planning to leave their place of employment. Many of those who had been thinking of retirement have chosen that new phase of life now. I have heard of our present era being called the age of “great resignation.”
I was accidentally one of those workers. I had planned to retire June 1, 2020. That marked 50 years in the practice of law, all in Kankakee. It seemed it was a logical time to end that career. As it turned out, it made my transition both easier and harder. It was easier because the practice of law, especially trial work, changed completely. Courthouses were closed. Trials were continued. Clients couldn’t come to your office. Businesses closed and didn’t need legal guidance. So in that way, I didn’t have to cope with all the differences.
At the same time, the isolation through 2020 and early 2021 was a magnification of the change in my daily life. No office interchange. No meeting with clients. No lunches or meetings locally and statewide. The shutdown created increased pressure in an already new experience of daily life.
It is often believed that if we didn’t need to work, or if we could work fewer hours, we’d be happier and be living a stress-free life with those for whom we care the most. But this fails to explain that many retirees pick up new jobs, be it charitable or even greeting at superstores. If one studies some of the lottery winners, many bank the money and go straight back to work.
So perhaps the perfect balance of work-life isn’t so much how we adjust when and where we work, but more of a question of why we work. Perhaps the pandemic has illustrated to many of us that our happiness may not be for the reasons that we once supposed, but more complicated ones.
Work is consistently and positively related to much of our well-being. For some it is our identity. I was a “lawyer.” That was my identity. Sure I was a dad, a husband, a college trustee, a very average golfer, but I was first and foremost a lawyer.
How often when meeting people does the question arise, “What do you do (or did you do) for a living?” Isn’t that a sign of identification? We derive daily validation from our job. That is our safe place in many ways. How often when tragedy strikes a person, does he or she “escapes” back into their work for that comfort and temporary release from the drama?
I have read of a term called eudaimonic happiness. That is the happiness we derive from optimal functioning and realizing our potential. This feeling can be reached by completing one’s job or, off the job, a difficult task totally unrelated to one’s usual occupation. Lack of these “accomplishments” in our retirement days causes a new stress when those comforts of the job and pleasures of success have been taken away.
Another happiness is called hedonic and is defined as the presence of positive feelings. It is the other side of the work balance. The presence of positive feelings is the principal goal that is sought rather than those of eudaimonic happiness. This is the ultimate freedom from stress and sadness. You don’t miss the old job and just let it go and enjoy your new freedom.
But is there such a thing as too much free time? Studies say that there is such a thing. Our subjective well-being actually begins to drop if we have more than five hours a day of that otherwise delicious-sounding free time. Whiling away on a beach too long or too many days in a row does not seem to be the key to long-term happiness.
Many retirees attempt time-filling activities that on the surface may not sound all that enjoyable to all of us, but are using up that spare time. There is a third category where the person expends significant effort during his or her leisure time doing what many would consider unpleasant or even painful. Examples might be hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on foot. (Guilty). Or running races and decathlons. (Guilty for a while). Or spending a night in the Arctic in an igloo. (Not so far). Perhaps these routes are taken toward fulfilling a goal or dream. They certainly do rid one of that excessive free time and help avoid boredom.
The study I read described a research inquiry across nine countries and thousands of participants to find which of the three categories above are most prevalent. Over 50% would prefer a happy life as described as hedonic. About a quarter would prefer the meaningful life embodied by the eudaimonic happiness, but only about 10% chose the last category, the pursuit of a rich and diverse experiential life.
I must admit that I am more of a mix; half eudaimonic and half the goal-seeking retiree. Perhaps that is why I still write a column and still hike a few mountains. And what are you?