Why Do We Work Ourselves To Death?

Why do we work ourselves to death?

Why do we wake up

and think about all

the chores we have to do

the tasks we have to tick off for work?

Why do we compete with others

thinking that everyone solidly

completes 80h of week,

52 weeks a year?

Why do I feel a pang of guilt

after accidentally opening up my email

at 8pm, seeing how many people have replied

past 5pm?

Why do you advocate for self-care

and then display and model the opposite?

How could you create a presentation

on why we need self-care

and subtly make a joke

about losing sleep

and pounds of weight

over completing this presentation?

Why do we talk and talk and talk

about supporting self-care

but never see anyone doing it?

Why do we promote self-care

and turn around, asking for

replies at 5am?

Is productivity

the only value we now have?

Is there anything beyond?

***

Poetry Prompt: construct a poem solely out of questions…?

***

Lucy (The Eggcademic) wants to let go of defining oneself solely on productivity. Sure, she loves the great feeling of setting and achieving life goals, of getting something done, of checking something off a checklist. But fam, there’s so much more than that and relying solely on this feeling to bring us joy contributes to so much burnout. Let’s stop that.

This poem was first published here.