I Can't Stop Thinking About Work!

Why Some People Are Always Feeling Guilty About Work

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

Q: Dear April Masini,

I love my job and believe that I'm an extremely good worker. But at the end of the day I go home and am able to spend time with my family without stressing about work. However, I have a friend who is a freelancer and she claims that her job is ideal because she can be at home with her kids all of the time. But whenever she's home, she's working! And whenever she's not working, she's feeling guilty that she's not working. Why do some people feel so much guilt about work, while others (even good workers) feel none?

Sincerely,

No Guilt Here

A:

Dear No Guilt Here,

Americans have a tendency to live for work, while Europeans work to live. This living for work can make work your life, and create tremendous stress on anything that is not work that you try to incorporate into your life -- like a husband, a wife, children, or a golf game. At the very least.

People most susceptible to work guilt are:

* Freelancers

* Telecommuters

* Anyone not on a salary who works for a percentage of their sales or income

* Anyone on a salary who gets a bonus based on their percentage sales or income

* Anyone in a job that is not secure -- whether due to an uncertain economic time, industry, company, or performance ability

* Anyone with an addictive tendency who uses work to avoid feeling

* Anyone with an unstable personal life who uses work to avoid going home

Work guilt definitely interferes with personal lives. In fact, pretty much everyone in America who works has trouble incorporating their personal and their work lives because it is possible here to have so much if you work hard. And people here want a lot. The idea that a person can have a lot more than his or her parents had, is a motivator to make people work...and work...and work...

Work guilt is counter productive -- or damaging -- when an employee starts producing less because they are so tormented by their feelings of guilt. When the feelings impede work and/or personal relationships, then there's a problem that needs adjustment.

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

© 2004-2009 AskApril.com, LLC. All rights reserved. AskApril®, AskApril.com®, and Ask April® are registered trademarks owned by Masini Enterprises, Inc. This material can only be republished and redistributed if it is kept in it's original form, including, but not limited to, all AskApril branding, banners, links, books, and credits.