This morning I was re-reading one of Rosalind’s chapters in Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease, “Challenges in the Workplace.” She shared numerous stories and examples to illustrate the complete unpredictability - and impact - of living life and working when you have an autoimmune disease (AD). Reading between the stories, I’d say Rosalind inadvertently illustrated the tremendous demands for a high level of productivity we all deal with at work.
I was reminded of one of the defining moments in my last job. I’d just returned to work after 2-plus months on disability leave. I was happy to be back and my co-workers were happy to have me back - thank goodness.
I looked forward to lunch with the usual group. We headed out, took the elevator and walked out the front of the building. And, I noticed something. They were headed to lunch at a pace synonymous with a mad rush from a burning building. I, on the other hand, was walking like I was taking a comfortable stroll on the beach. While away from work I’d slowed down, initially because it hurt to move too quickly and I didn’t have the strength. Then, it became a habit. I’d gotten off the treadmill.
Have you noticed that to help preserve your energy and keep your symptoms at bay, that you have to stay more centered in your body? That day I made a promise to myself. I decided I’d not return to that unbalanced, head forward, racing posture again. And, I haven’t. Sure, I can walk more quickly when I need or want to, but it’s never at the fire drill pace.
What about you? Am I crazy to think that we, with AD’s, have an opportunity to invite the rest of the working world to get real, to slow down a bit? What if “normal” is off kilter and we’re here to say, “Hey, this model for working is not working!” I know, you didn’t ask for this assignment.
Joan
P.S. If you want to read more about the effects of fast-paced busyness on the body, check out an article I wrote a few years ago, Busyness Is Not a Long-Term Health Plan. Scroll down the page to learn about the role of adrenalin in all this. Here’s to your health.
P.P.S WE’RE SO EXCITED. Our book is in the publisher’s hands, which means we should be getting it soon, which means is should be at www.amazon.com in a couple of weeks. MORE NEWS: we got a fabulous review by the Library Journal. Scroll down a bit to find the review of our book.
Yes, the pace is ridiculous! Perhaps this is why more women with chronic illness do not think they can return to any kind of work, along with what they do at home, if they have children! Also, after reading the book, “Nickle and Dimed,” our lower earning sisters don’t have much choice between working or disability.
In order for the rest of the world to slow down, you are talking about changing productivity and the profit share of millions of companies. NOT an easy task, my dear. I am no expert on labor laws, but even with the sleep medicine industry pushing for later school start times for teens and possible rest periods at our lowest ebb during the afternoon, no one seems to be listening. Somehow in America, slowing down goes against our ingrained work ethic. It seems to smack of lower intelligence, old age and/or sloth.
As a parent with a unique family of individuals all with chronic illnesses I would love to see a slower world. But in the meantime, we carve out an exisitence among our fast-flying alien-looking friends and neighbors.
Glad to find your site, BTW. I look forward to the book.
Judith
Hey Judith -
Thanks for sharing. And, amen to that.
Judith, you’re the second person we’ve heard from who has suggested, in essence, this is an uphill battle we may not win. We may not, but something has got to give, eventually.
I think your point that “slowing down goes against our ingrained work ethic” is right on point. There is something in us - probably the basis of the founding of our Country - that places a high value on working hard. And, then individuals get sick, or have something else go haywire, enough to wake them up to another alternative.
If the number of people with chronic and autoimmune illnesses continues to grow into more millions, as it seems to be, we may see a slow change. In the meantime, we each have the opportunity to make conscious choices. Except for our illnesses, our friends and neighbors might actually envy our slower paces.
Joan
Hi, ladies, Thanks for listening and inviting comment. We can try (as I do) to tell the world around us to S-L-O-W D-O-W-N, but even with the example of all of us chronic illness folks (at last count more than 50%), they can’t seem to say NO. All of us are aware that we got worse faster when our pace is too intense, we warn, but we don’t get an ear. We’re often labeled as “lazy” or told we’re not “team players.” So far, I’ve been pretty blest where I work; yes, there are times when the regulatory demands pressure the higher ups and they need more from us (our tax dollars at work?) - but they try to talk reason. Not all do. So, it strikes me - all the pressures we put on government to regulate industry, can and often do translate into having the same people do double, even triple, work. If the company hires enough people to do the job, prices go up, profits dive - no business = no job. Knowing this, we keep up the frentic pace. And no one questions why executive perks can run into the billions (esp. for CEOs) while we ruin our national health on a runaway treadmill. Doesn’t mean we stop trying, though! Amy