“There’s an illusion with work that everything you give up now, all the stolen time commuting, working overtime, checking your email and Slack notifications after hours, will somehow earn you freedom and capital in your later years. But the farce of “work hard now, play later” has been exposed for millennials and Gen-Zers; most of us will be working until we die. It’s hard to maintain your ambition in the face of that reality.
The pandemic exposed a lot of the raw nerves of being a working parent, illuminating the fissures in both critical spaces. It showed us plainly how both systems are failing so many, whether it’s a lack of affordable day care, paid parental leave, or remote and flexible working options. It showed how quickly companies were willing to sacrifice employees’ lives, to label them essential without providing the necessary safeguards and support to keep them healthy. It sacrificed mothers, forcing millions of women to leave the workforce at once, to manage the overwhelming load being asked of them and somehow only them.
Work asked us to keep our productivity apace despite managing an unprecedented health scare that was visibly stealing lives in front of us every day. We were told to consider spreadsheets and content as equally important as keeping ourselves and our kids functioning. It’s hard to want more of that, to strive for an even higher spot in that poisoned hierarchy.”
- Amil Niazi, Losing My Ambition
(via wolflyinginwait)
