"Slow Movement"

It’s an apt title for this post because I’m moving slowly today. Sometimes I think it’s a function of the summertime heat, moving and thinking slowly.

Actually, the title is from a CNN article I read yesterday: ‘Slow Movement’ wants you to ease up, chill out. Even the wording used by John Blake in writing this article takes the typical American spin on the topic of work/life balance and letting go of busyness; it’s the “right to be lazy”.

Can I just comment that “lazy” actually means resistance to work or exertion and possibly sluggishness according to the American Heritage Dictionary? It seems more like the “Slow Movement” advocates want us to save time, be more deliberate in the use of our time, and match up our time usage to our values in order to live healthier lives. I don’t think a strike on working or a life of sluggishness is at the root of the argument.

(My conclusion, by the way, is based on Edgar Cahn's comment in the article that, “The movement is about how we value things other than how fast we can consume and how much we can accumulate”.)

After living overseas I see the ridiculous American culture of busyness now in stark contrast to many European cultures.

Most American get two weeks, if any, vacation time every year, and woe to you who decide to take that two weeks of holiday all at the same time! Europeans often get four to six weeks of mandatory vacation time, and taking an entire month to travel is not uncommon.

In many European countries, even a 40-hour work week would be considered overtime; 35 is the usual number of work hours in a week. It seems Americans are gluttons for punishment working upwards of 50, sometimes close to 70, hours a week.

As this article points out, Western Europeans over 50 years of age exhibit about half the chronic illnesses that Americans display.

Now, truthfully, it is more frustrating to work with the service industry in Europe when companies, stores, and employees may or may not be there at any given time during the day or week. Patience definitely has to be a virtue.

What? You have mice overrunning your apartment? OK. We’ll be there to take care of it in three days.

Did you say there’s water flooding your toilet room? Alright. We can come take a look at it next week.

Truthfully (and I KNOW this is hard for any American to believe), you eventually get used to it. You change your expectations and the way you plan for things. You realize that everything takes twice (or five times) as long, and IT’S OK.

I know. Craziness.

Overwork all by itself is not killing us, but the chronic overwork leaves little to no time for exercise or proper sleep, and it supports a lifestyle of eating quickly and cheaply (enter: fast-food).

I’m all in favor of mandating three weeks of paid vacation and limiting compulsory overtime. Though, we need to define “compulsory” since I know an awful lot of employees who force themselves to work horrendous hours rather than just doing it because their company is demanding it. Or, in more subtle ways, companies would never force someone to work 70 hours a week, but it is impossible to do all the work piled up on them in a decent amount of time and not finishing work will result in a bad evaluation, which may eventually end with being fired.

As the Millennial generation begins their careers, I see some hope for change in the future. But, as always, I remain a little pessimistic. (There’s a good segment on Millennials below.)



Is it possible to change an entire culture?

With the Netherlands in my mind as I think about this, I wonder if a change would result in more socialistic tendencies.

Is this really what needs to, or should, happen?

In my opinion I would gladly give up the unrealistic expectations, the isolation, the stress, and the unhappiness of overwork and busyness to deal with things taking longer, needing more patience, and getting by with less stuff.