work is good

Be sure to look deep. Question things.

The headline reads…

Work-related stress can kill, study finds

The lead sentence…

“Work really can kill you, according to a study on Wednesday providing the strongest evidence yet of how on-the-job stress raises the risk of heart disease by disrupting the body’s internal systems.”

Later in the piece, the person who led the study points out...

“Behavior and biological changes likely explain why stress at work causes heart disease… For one stressed workers eat unhealthy food, smoke, drink and skip exercise…”

The problem with this story (other than it only studied civil servants) is that some people will take only the headline and the first 5 words to heart… making “work” a bad thing… locking it down as a fact never to be questioned again… futher perpetuating the idea that work is bad.

I love my work and I know many people who do as well. I think I could do without some of the stress at times but it’s also helped make me stronger (and helped me help others).

(and my stress on a relative scale isn’t really stress at all)

My suggestion for those civil servants in the study is to care more about how they help people through what they do, exercise, stop smoking, drink less, and enjoy good food.

Our work is one of the ways we create value as people. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.