Sometimes the Earth doesn’t seem to spin under the influence of gravity, but people spin it like a squirrel wheel. Today, a person lives in such a crazy rhythm that such an effort is required in all areas of life that the energy he produces seems to move not only planets but also galaxies. However, a perpetual motion machine is impossible, and the machine running at maximum power often won’t run for long. And if humans have really turned the planet, a imminent stop can be expected. Ordinary human battery drains quickly. According to various estimates, between 10% and 25% of people in the world suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome. In Russia, they say, there are even more such unfortunates – from a quarter to half.
Why are there so many spaces in the numbers? As always, it all depends on who is counted and how. Doctors have their own statistics, some research is conducted by professional sociology services such as VTsIOM and various recruitment services such as HeadHunter and Rabota.ru, which Sber recently joined. For example, doctors only recognize that those who feel exhausted for six months in a row are chronically tired, and it is desirable that test results show something. Sociologists rely on the self-awareness of respondents: a person says that he is sick of it, or even will lie down and die – this means that it is, you should not go into details. As they say, if it looks that way to you, then it doesn’t appear to you.
According to VTsIOM statistics, most people are familiar with a malfunction and 88% experience it at varying intervals (in the 18 to 34 age group, for example 96-97%). Every day for a long period of time, 31% of respondents experience fatigue. At the same time, women feel exhausted more often than men (34% vs. 27%), as it combines with work, childcare and daily life. Most of all, our people are tired of working. 30% of Russians complain of tense and responsible activities, 27% are tired from physical labor. The other 27% are unable to cope with the general stress of life, psychologically difficult situations, incompatibility with loved ones. People suffer even from hobbies. Provided that there is a hobby cottage and a kitchen garden. By the way, we have 24% of this type of weeping, prickly but continuing to grow cacti. For 18%, family and children get their vital energy.
All right, let’s talk about work. Work is the most important part of life, work made a man from a monkey and other pains. But now labor does not even turn a person into a horse (artiodactyls would not have survived) – into a machine. 8-hour day, division of labor and areas of responsibility – again the biggest dream.
Now everyone drives like clockwork. In the office, in the field, in the factory, then at home, and even on the way home from work (business conversations do not end, reports and letters are written immediately on the subway, voice messages are spoken with colleagues on buses, while driving). And everyone ploughs at least three plows: for himself, for that man, that is, for someone else. It looks hairy. Why are you messing with that guy? He himself is isachit for four. We also have equipment, programs and all kinds of progress in general. And there you go. Work like a hydra – finish a mission, here are ten new missions. And what are the tasks? Song! Find a new form for the report, subscribe to something, register somewhere, urgently coordinate something with someone, attend a course, conduct self-analysis of activities, report on the conduct of self-analysis. And they demand to treat this game with all seriousness, care and diligence. Perfectionism has evolved from a mental disorder to an ideal to strive for. And now we are all perfectionists, that is, neurotic.
But, of course, they meet us halfway through the extermination of new neuroses. They say you don’t need to take everything seriously. You have to be efficient, not close to the heart. And to clarify, here is an instruction, a protocol, by the way, fill in the Google table according to the new system …
Today, the system compares the doctor, lawyer, teacher to a machine. Here is the plan, the algorithm. Heal, teach from the fence to the sunset. Who said before lunch?! What else is there for lunch? And what is the human factor? What kind of fatigue? The car does not get tired. It can only be broken. Broken not subject to repair – scrapped. Here, some begin to guess what kind of guy we’re all shapeshifting for – not for what was with us on the same team, but for the person who left. However, there is no time to develop the idea specifically – the plan is the same. And it will come out as a burning red thought in the brain.
But if you think about that thought anyway, it gets pretty scary. And the problem isn’t even that no one feels sorry for anyone. As a result, we really implemented the robotization that everyone feared so much. But this was expressed not in the invasion of machines and the displacement of man, but in the transformation of humans themselves into robots.
And this is utter nonsense, if, of course, not schizophrenia. Because efficiency is never 100% even in a car. And because even the car requires a careful attitude. Not because it’s moral, but because it’s dictated by common sense. You cannot work without stopping and resting.
By the way, this is not the same thing. The stop is conditionally a dream, lunch break, cigarette break, rest – transition, leisure, hobbies, new experiences. Without charging, it is impossible to work without fuel. For a person, this is training, professional communication (but not out of necessity, during silly team building), something without which new ideas are impossible, not real and formal, but optimization of business processes. However, in our country, all these “can’t” things turn into “possible” or even “should”. And then someone will say something about low labor productivity, the impossibility of modernization and economic growth. What’s the growth if we have one-third to half of our employees – waste material?
And after all, most people, even in the family, cannot recharge. Family is a second job, family, business project. Husband and wife are partners, not close people, they need to maintain a work balance with each other, they cannot relax.
Children are not the flowers of life, they are an investment. Invest, calculate risks, choose a strategy, keep your pulse. And of course, the reputation component is important. You have to follow the picture so that it is not worse than the others, as in the mayonnaise advertisement. The family is now also ruled by inhuman perfectionism.
leisure, hobbies? And this is where many people fall into the trap. First, an unpaid hobby is bad. Second, I want something original, complex. Even to get together with friends, it is imperative to organize something conceptual, not somehow but some thematic Wednesday-Friday. Just after the main job, work on relationships and try to make a happy mom or a superhero dad, somehow this compound just doesn’t come off at all. Or rather, you have to work hard to get it. And they are trying. Our people are not afraid of difficulties. They’re just too tired. But they are not afraid.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.