July 5 - Workaholics Day
Workaholism seems to be a uniquely American affliction. Our culture, perhaps more than any other in the world, views your career as an essential element of who you are. “What do you do?” is one of the first questions an American will ask another socially - a question that would be considered impertinent in other cultures.
The Workaholics International Network (WIN) celebrates those people whose lives are consumed by work, creating opportunities for themselves and others. The group is proud of the workaholic’s work ethic and believes workaholics are winners and make winners of the people around them.
But for every workaholic, there is an opposite, lying on the couch at home watching courtroom reality shows and soap operas on daytime TV. CLAWS (Creating Livable Alternatives to Wage Slavery) was founded by D.J. Swanson in the late 1990s to bring together people who just weren’t that interested in a career. They prefer the term “job-free” to “unemployed.” CLAWS main purpose is “to encourage people to value leisure, re-think the Puritan work ethic … and to promote viable alternatives to wage slavery.”
But today is not a day to celebrate the lazy and shiftless … It’s for all those people out there who know their co-workers better than they know their own family members. Are you one of them? Take this short quiz and find out.
• Have you told yourself at least five times that you need to “get a life?”
• Are you there to say goodbye to the last person in the office?
• Does the route to and from work look more familiar to you in the dark than in daylight?
• Are you frequently still working when the late news comes on?
• When you watch TV, do you require another simultaneous activity?
If you answered yes to these five questions, then you might be a workaholic. Don’t worry. There’s help for people like you. Work can be an addicition. And like any addiction, there is a 12-step program to help kick the habit—Workaholics Anonymous. Maybe you can check out their web site … after you get done working.