The United States Of Nervous Wrecks

Oh beautiful, for SSRIs, for manic episodes...

Americans are, by and large, nervous wrecks.

Great new article on this topic from Wharton. It’s called “How The Pursuit of Happiness Has Made Us Nervous Wrecks,” and honestly, I doubt I could agree with a headline more. I used to write a lot about happiness on here — I personally struggle with that topic, as I think we all probably do. Over time, I stopped writing as much about happiness on this blog. Why? First off: happiness is bullshit. We’ve all seen the memes about “choosing to be happy,” and that’s great. It’s also largely a lie. You can be content, but I don’t know a lot of people who are truly, consistently happy. Just like “bad employees,” it’s not necessarily a fixed characteristic. People are happy on Wednesday and miserable on Thursday. Employees are great at one project and awful at a second one. Maybe we should put people in boxes less, right?

Second reason I write less about happiness: this blog is mostly about work, and happiness at work is kind of a giant scam. (So is employee engagement, in large measure.) I have friends and family who love their jobs. Good for them! But I’d say 7 in 10 people I know really dislike or outright hate their job — and usually because of a clueless, berating-style manager. Work should ideally be a means to an end. Unfortunately, for many people, it’s not. It’s a source of relevance, self-worth, and the line between “where work ends” and “where family can begin” is very, very blurred. (Thank you, mobile email!)

We spend 10–12 hours/day (more?) at work, and that whole context is turning us into nervous wrecks. Just how big of wrecks? Let’s dive deeper.

What does this Wharton interview say about us being nervous wrecks?

Let me hit you with a pull quote from the top:

The World Health Organization says that America is the most anxious country on the planet and by a wide margin. A second-place country is very far down the list from America. We are, in this country, more likely to suffer from clinical symptoms of anxiety than anywhere else on the planet.

Goddamn!

And now let me give you another one related to work from a bit further down:

I’ve talked in the book about this whole idea of happiness in the workplace. It used to be that work was work and home was where you tried to find happiness and your social life and all the rest of it. There’s been a deliberate blurring of those boundaries. You see it where workplaces are offering dentists and doctors and video games and free food and that sort of thing to keep people working longer hours. [Employers are] even sending their staff to happiness training and mindfulness training.

Ah-ha! Scam №3! If you apply for a job and they say “we have dry cleaning right here at the HQ,” that doesn’t necessarily mean the senior executives care about you getting errands done. It usually means they want you at work at 8pm. Many people miss this distinction, though. As a result, we’re becoming nervous wrecks.

What about work stress?