You're not "too slow," you're exhausted.
Living in the age of burnout, the age when we produce more but enjoy less
I sit in my office late at night, thinking about what to do the next day. At the same time, I notice the windows of the large apartment building across the street. Some are large, some are small, some are decorated, but not all are the same.
Some have lights on, others do not. In some, people are sleeping, in others they are thinking like me, in others they are working from home, and in others they are taking care of their children. In any case, the light characterizes them.
A few years ago, I had a professor who demanded a lot from us as students. He wanted assignments, answers to questions, and of course, take his exams. He woke up at dawn and went to bed late at night. Well, the latter, I supposed it. But you understand.
To cut the long story short, few passed his course on the first try. Even the best programmers. Why? Because they were exhausted from the many tasks they had to complete.
Today, we live in an era that is only interested in its own interests. Or rather, in its profits. It wants to make money, get rich, and produce more. Or rather, reduce the volume of work. And how is this achieved? Through its workers.
So, without getting political, I would say that people who work long hours become exhausted, get burnout, and instead of being given psychological and physical help, they are labeled as slow. And they are either fired or change department in their work.
In fact, we don’t enjoy what we do. When you have to achieve x things in y time, it’s hard to achieve happiness. Especially if you’re not a manager and you’re lower down in the hierarchy worker.
So, you are not slow, nor lazy, nor that label they gave you to make you work more and harder. You are none of those things. You are a hard-working, humble, and honest person. Keep that in mind.
And the more we fight against the stigma of the “super worker”, the more we will be able to enjoy what we do or do something part-time that we like.
But for this to change, we need a collective rethinking. And not just individual rethinking. So try to convince or even break the stigma in your social or family environment.
And remember: you are not slow, you are just exhausted by the many expectations of others.