The Daily Word for August 22, 2021

 

presenteeism - n. -  the compulsion to spend longer at work then is required.

I know that it is Sunday, and I have no business unearthing the topic of work, but this term caught my eye on Lexico.com's "Weird and Wonderful Words," so I decided to feature it as today's "Daily Word." I used to be this person, totally guilty of presenteeism. In fact, the malady runs in my family. My dad was afflicted and my sister, whose birthday is today (Happy Birthday!!!), is also. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on how you look at it), my daughter tends to be someone who likes to sneak out a bit early from work, so she did not inherit the disease. 

Presenteeism has its negatives and positives. One negative would be that your obsessive, hard work is not noticed by the right people, and all of the O.T. you've put it winds up being for nothing. In other words, you can fall into the category of "No good deed goes unpunished" in a sense. Essentially, you aren't punished, just ignored. Which is a type of admonishment, I suppose, just a silent one. Another minus would be that since you work all of the time, you don't have a few minutes for your spouse or friends...in which case, you might wind up alone albeit you might never noticed that you are because you simply don't have time. On the other hand, a positive might be that because you allow no stone to be left unturned, you learn something: a work ethic, for one. If you have the right job, your compulsion to stay late into the night with your nose to the grindstone might earn you double time, a nice stash of cash. And who would say no to that? Eventually, someone could notice all that you are doing and promote you. Wouldn't that be sweet?

 I could probably go on and on, but clearly, presenteeism is a choice. You take a risk to be or not to be overly present. It all boils down to what you want out of life. I'm the lucky one because I have learned how to strike a bargain between the presenteeism and absenteeism when it comes to work. In other words, I have struck gold and found balance. 

I hope that you have found a sense of balance in your life as well. 

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God bless!