Workaholics Don’t Always Work!

When I began sharing my story, I noticed a few people retreated when I mentioned the word workaholism. “I can’t identify,” they laughed. However, I have a hunch that more than care to admit experience similar self-destructive patterns.

In her book, Working Ourselves to Death, Diane Fassel contends that although workaholics may work a great deal, they are not always working. Some avoid work, some work in obsessive spurts, others procrastinate.

Pressured by church and family, housewives may become work addicts all in the interest of being perfect wives and mothers. In the zealous and competitive pursuit of superiority (often misnamed as excellence), schools produce youth obsessed with perfect performance in athletics and academics.

Work addiction often surfaces when we confuse who we are as God’s unique and valuable creation with what we can or cannot do. God will help us uncover the distorted ideas we have about ourselves and our work. After facing the issues honestly, we can learn to labor at our daily tasks without being controlled by them. God wants us to find peace and satisfaction in this area of our lives.

How do you feel about the concept of work addiction or workaholism? Has it touched your life in any way?

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