Six Ways to be Free of Workaholism

By Bob Livingstone LCSW

Have you ever wondered if you are a workaholic or if you just really love your job? A workaholic doesn’t necessarily even like her job. She puts in a lot of hours and is always available to her supervisors-night and day. This is a common practice and almost all her friends are in the same pressure cooker. It is not unusual to answer the phone or respond to electronic messages while you are in the middle of a meal. She is defined by her employment because her job is where she spends the most time each week. She has little time to raise her family or develop relationships with friends or partners. Her job has become a means of survival and becoming a workaholic-working 24/7, worrying about deadlines, and obsessing about how the boss feels about her has somehow become the expectation.

The workaholic doesn’t feel that she has any options to this overly stressful lifestyle. If she is to pay or help assist with the mortgage and put food on the table, there doesn’t seem to be any alternative to working 80 to 100 hours per week. There are many of us who don’t have a choice here; there are no other employment options that will pay the high cost of housing, childcare and gasoline.

She can plan to eventually get off this treadmill and find work that is more nurturing and exciting. She can think about bonding with other families to help out with child care and find the time to go back to school to focus on a job that will eventually pay the bills and be emotionally fulfilling.

There is another type of workaholic that doesn’t spend most of his waking hours on the job for survival reasons. He does so in order to escape other parts of life he is fearful of. He is often afraid of intimate relationships and of being rejected. Working all the time will enable him to hide from this pain. He is not a happy individual or a complacent one. He is bored much of the time, but would rather be uninterested that scared.

The woman who just loves her job discusses her work tasks with exuberance and she doesn’t mind working odd hours occasionally because her work causes such joy in her life. She is creative, eats well and exercises regularly. She has close family ties and friendships. She feels the best is yet to come.

Are you a workaholic or do you just love your job?

• If you are working long hours and hate every aspect of it, you are a workaholic
  If you are always preoccupied with your job and don’t pay attention to others talking to you, you are a workaholic
• If you work extended hours and you feel that you are just going through the motions, you are a workaholic
• If you work through lunch and don’t eat, avoid exercise and relax by utilizing substances, you are a workaholic and perhaps an alcoholic or drug addict
• If you are excited to go to work most mornings, you just love your job
• If you thinking about your work gives you pleasure, you just love your job
• If you are connecting with others and living in the present, you just love your job
• If you work long hours and find this process fulfilling, you just love your job

Six Ways to be Free of Workaholisim:

• If you decide that you are a workaholic, make plans to look for another employment opportunity
• Talk about your workaholic tendencies with close friends, partners and family-Admitting that you are a workaholic is the first step to being set free
• Begin a regular exercise program in order to feel and look better
• Start to set limits with your boss about how many hours you will work each day
• Spend time thinking about what kind of work you really would like to do and then pursue it
• If you start to feel guilty for not putting in extra hours at work, distract yourself through hobbies, exercise, spending time with friends or checking out a new interest