Why Am I So Overworked & Stressed?

Stress & Working Too Much

Have you decided that you are no longer willing to pay the toll of personal sacrifices to get ahead? Are you ready to break the cycle? Find a better way to feel and live? Discover greater work-life harmony? You can break the cycle of chronic busyness, rushing, and doing too much. Part of the stress recovery journey starts with building awareness of WHY & HOW.

Today - I am focusing on my social perspective of why you and others are so stressed and overworked. (Other articles focus more on relational or physiological reasons for stress.)

More than Just Work Environment and Corporate Culture

The work environment gets alot of flack for being the cause of stress and overwork. Ongoing global competition and supply chain challenges have led to trends of doing more with less. There is a lot of pressure on leaders to up the team's productivity & efficiency. Also, many leaders translate 24/7 global operations to mean that their team needs to be working those hours as well. Certain companies are more toxic than others, yet there are still many places that recognize that people are the most valuable resource that they have. Even if it is in pockets of divisions and departments within larger organizations. Personally, I've seen executives exited for consistently treating people poorly. When retention tanks, companies suffer so there is a limit to how far an organization can push its employees.

As you look around at work, I'm positive you can count on your fingers several colleagues who are not as stressed or work as many hours as you. This means it is not just the work environment. There are other influences.

Before I get to my belief - let's step back and look at work from a wider and more historical lens.

Biblical Perspective

In Genesis, God initially created the nature of work to be good and its purpose is love. As a result of Adam & Eve's exercise of free-will instead of obedience to God, working is supposed to be hard and painful. (Genesis 3: 17-19 (NIV)) As we shift from centuries of mainly hard physical work to being knowledge workers, working is still difficult - just the types of activities that we toil at and how the pain manifests. It's more than physical strain. 

Throughout Proverbs there are plenty of verses about work - warning us not to be lazy or foolish and that work is a duty & responsibility. If your childhood was like mine, the Christian value of hard work was strongly reinforced. You and I grew up expecting that we would be challenged and would need to grow our Christian character. Over the years, we developed the discipline and perseverance to be successful. Work is an act of love so we can ensure our loved ones are well provided more than being minimally fed, clothed, and sheltered at a survival level. (The tasks may look a little different between men and women - but the root is the same). We accepted and adopted all of these moral virtues from childhood and are role models of these at work and in the community.

Yet, these beliefs and values do not explain the modern problems of chronic stress and working too much. People have been working with this value system for thousands of years, but chronic stress and stress-related disease levels are at epic levels in this era.

Our relationship with work gets distorted because of how all the external pressures of modern culture subconsciously influence our desires, including status, identity, control, and approval. Like the lies and temptation in Eden, the messaging and environment influence our exercise free-will.

RELATED: When Anxiety is Great Within - God's Consolation Brought Joy

Modern American Culture

Being drained is NOT the natural price of duty & responsibility, and being dedicated to work and family. They are a sign that change is needed. God; your loved ones; and your body, mind, and spirit are inviting you to protest the pace, isolation, and pain of modern life and societal convention.

I believe there’s more to what you are feeling than whatever is occurring at your work or within your employer’s workplace culture of doing more with less. Modern life is designed to wear us down, leaving us drained and depleted, separating us from our holistic selves, each other, and our Creator. Societal norms, fear-based messaging, and the pressure to conform can drain our energy and leave us feeling unfulfilled and isolated. It is socially acceptable and encouraged to work long hours, strive for more prestige, and never have enough material gain or security. The chaos of daily life and secular societal pressures can make it challenging to sense that there is something greater. Within this environment, natural feelings of duty and responsibility get twisted and corrupted so that suppression of faith and insane sacrifices of health, family, and self are viewed as normal.

Lately, It Seems the Cultural Pressure is Even Higher

And in the last few years, it seems like all of this intensity and strain has become worse. Covid shook the world up – intensifying the chaos & instability. Global economic instability makes people feel less secure and more fearful of what happens if a job is lost. There is increasing pressure for people to be less reliant on themselves and more on the government. (You will never be one of those!) With opportunities reducing and so many people opting out - the pressure is more on those who are strong, successful contributing members of society.

There are open attacks on traditional family values & personal freedom. In some work environments, it is no longer safe to be known as someone with traditional Christian and American values. Increasingly people are becoming more aware of gross inequities, oppression, and criminal practices going on at a global level. On some days it seems like the world has gone mad. To me, this is clear evidence that some forces want us compliant, weak, and lost in worldly desires and temptations!

No wonder you are stressed, drained, overcommitted to work, and feeling the way you are!

RELATED VIDEO: Grace Over Grind: Why Are You Stressed & Working Too Much?

Prayer and Journal

With this perspective, how is society influencing you to work so many hours and to stress so much?

Specifically, what is influencing your desires related to work, including status, identity, control, and approval? How have these temptations been more valuable than your health & relationships?

Why do you think you work so hard?

As you review your responses from a Biblical perspective, what opportunities do you see for you to grow closer to God?

RELATED: Taking Smallest of Actions to Energize & Reduce Stress

My hope for you...

It is time to make a shift for greater independence and to conform less to societal expectations! With the challenges you and your loved ones face in this modern world, you need to be healthy and resilient! It is time to double down on Faith, Family & Freedom in your own life!  To have the energy for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness!

Now that you have made the decision that you are ready to slow down and find more balance and harmony in your life, do you know what to do to take the first steps toward stress recovery?

Book a free consultation about how stress recovery can help you!

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