The Unpaid Work We All Need

What is work and why do we do it?  A classic definition of work is “activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.”  Another is “a task or tasks to be undertaken; something a person or thing has to do.” 

Like it or not, civilization is built on work.  The things we have, the places we go, the shelter we enjoy, the food we eat, all come from work.  People do work which makes life possible.  In return those people get compensated, usually with each others money.  There’s something beautiful and elegant in a collective, albeit one driven by a selfish desire.

When asked “why do you work?”, most people would answer “for money” or to “to make a living”.  To make a living. 

That phrase “making a living” gets right to the point.  In order to live – to keep existing – you must continually make that living state.  For most of us that comes from paid work. 

We all want to live, right?

 

Doing The Work

This past Labor Day morning while on a run I noticed the lack of traffic and people due to the holiday and thought, “They’re all sleeping in, but I’m making a living right now”.  The thought just popped in my head as thoughts on runs do, but then I realized the truth within it. 

I was doing the necessary work to make a living.  A better living.

It then occurred to me that this work, this unpaid work, is exactly the kind of work that allows us to live better, and longer lives. 

 

 

Making A Better Living

Doing the unpaid work to take care of your health is literally making a living.  If we want to live better and healthier lives, ones that minimize lifestyle diseases, we need to live better lifestyles. 

And that means doing the unpaid work of exercise and healthy eating. 

This crucial work isn’t always fun, and is often really hard, like most work.  There’s no time card to punch, no 401k plan, and thankfully no creepy guy from accounting. 

You are your own boss.  It’s a job that provides tons of autonomy, and unfortunately that’s the reason so many fail.

 

I Used To Make A Horrible Living

I used to be obese.  And a functional alcoholic.  In those days my lifestyle was working against my body, preventing it from living the way it should have.   I was making a horrible living. 

I was actually slowly dying.  Outside of my job life was a toxic mix of alcohol, crap food, and minimal exercise.  As the years went on my mental state kept deteriorating. 

Let’s get this out of the way now, it pisses me off that we use the terms “physical health” and “mental health” separately.  As if the brain isn’t part of our bodies. 

It’s all physical health, and it’s not even remotely controversial that exercise and a healthy diet improve mental health, drastically. 

 

The Unpaid Work We All Need

I write about this topic from a position of empathy.  I know what it’s like to be obese, and to be ashamed of my body.  Between my weight and my drinking things got so bad there was a time when I didn’t really want to exist.  It got really dark. 

Thankfully it never reached a point where I considered ending the movie, but I was definitely lost on that road, making random u-turns trying to find a way out. 

The path that led me to making a better living was through unpaid work.  I slowly learned to put in the work of exercise and disciplined eating.  And it changed everything for me. 

As my body got healthier my mind did too.  Because they’re one and the same.

 

A Different Kind Of Pay

We all value our time.  Most people will spend a large portion of their life trading time for money, also called a job.  Having a job isn’t a bad thing, it’s how I got rich and semi-retired in my 40’s.  We all can’t be entrepreneurs right out of high school.  Jobs allow us make a living. 

But the underlying bedrock of life, of us, is our bodies, our health.  And for the vast majority of us the work required to maintain and care for it is unpaid work. 

It doesn’t pay in money, but it does pay handsomely in so many other ways.  Doing the unpaid work to make a better living sets the foundation for a healthy body.

One that can go out and do the work to make the other kind of living.