The Wake Up Call

Boredom, chaos of life, keeping repeating oneself, line after line. It's what I see online but not different from the lives lived. How to change it? Are we able to change habits?

He drags himself out of bed, a shower, somehow he manages to arrive at work day after day. The effect of the holiday that should have brought energy was gone on Monday. He loves his work, how is this possible? The words shared are alarming and remind me of the children at primary school and highschool saying exactly the same. The doctor said the level of burnout is shocking and her advice is to sleep no matter if this is for a day, week or longer. According to her there's no need to get out of bed or open a window.
I disagree with that week or longer in bed and like to know if those burnouts are the result of the lives lived.

What went wrong and when? Here the streets are empty once school is finished. Children no longer play outside. Some bored teenagers may gather outside a shop to talk once the shops are closed. There is not other plays for them to stay.
If there's life you find it inside behind closed doors with some device (if not three) to kill time. It's no longer the TV dominating the household and lifestyle but the internet. Enjoying meals as a family three times a day became rare and so does cooking. I see the change within my own family. It's work, work, school, study, work, no time to eat, no time to go out with friends, no time to meet family abroad. We stay in touch using the internet daily but it's not the the same as the life we once had.
The close family life (like the one painted for Christmas), birthdays, celebrations, board games, bedtime stories. a chat with the family? There's no energy left once home. Homework, a quick meal and off to bed after midnight to wake up at 4 am to be on time at school or work which starts between 7 and 8 a.m.

I am tired of all the travelling, my youngest told me yesterday. It's the daily stress of catching the bus, hurrying, another bus standing for 1.5 hours, waiting, and walking with a schoolbag of 20 kilograms or more which tires out next to the fact that those hours at school are felt like a waste of time. It doesn't matter if there are fewer lessons because there's never transport back to the village so the waiting starts again and there's no place nearby where 1 hour or longer can be killed. It's too short to visit a cinema if that could be afforded or take dancing lessons.

What went wrong with the society we live in, moreover what made us decide to keep studying and working ourselves to death and telling ourselves we will have a pension, a better life? Some people do get older but at the same time the suicides and heart attacks increase and the average age still remains 40-45 besides the fact we had 90+ years old 50 to 100 years ago and many were heavy smokers.

Is it stress only? Some stress should be healthy is what they say. We are taught to be the workhorses. I still don't know who "they" are, it's one of those unanswered questions I had as a child. "They" are and remain the unknown who are in control and whatever they decide cannot be doubted.

What is it all those close to or with a burnout have in common? It looks as if character (de aard van het beestje) does it.
The excellent, hard workers, the feeling it's never good enough, the idea it's important to be and stay at the top. The belief that replacement isn't possible next to see dreams and what you gained by your hard work for decades crumble till nothing is left. Panic? War, the world changes? Generations had to deal with the same issues. Life is never the same, crises and wars are fought age after age and by now history should have made us wiser, more flexible. Life is subject to change. We all will be replaced and the question that remains is: Who am I without a job? What did I do for me? Did I enjoy what I did and are there no regrets?

It's sad to see that even if the body tells to stop "we" continue and sacrifice health for a temporary job and to please others. The wake up call doesn't exist.

10.1.25
The photo is taken by me and uploaded on pixabay.com