I’m making a sort of art out of rest lately. As a Type A it is a very new experience for me to completely disengage from the activity of work. And yet, this year I have closed my office for three full weeks.

Then as I was spinning through interesting posts that I’ve been to busy to get to because of work I ran across the following title…

I almost sabotaged my whole relaxation vibe when I read this piece.

The idea that I have lived to see a day when it is becoming necessary to write laws to protect employees from being abused in the workplace…

Oh wait… actually, this isn’t new at least not in the good ole USA.

My question is’ “Why”?

Why does our culture so celebrate workplace extremist practices? Research tells us that this is not the best way to be productive or ensure a strong and resilient workforce and yet we continue to enable these unhealthy practices.

It is not okay to require work without proper compensation. Work should be contained within the specified and agreed upon hours negotiated between employee and employer at the point of hire. It is not okay to email and employee after hours and expect a response before the start of business the next work day. In fact, stop sending those emails after hours because you really can schedule them to deliver the next day.

There was a point in my former work life when I had to make a practice of turning my email off on my phone once I left the office. Many years ago I also adopted the practice of leaving my cell phone on silent and consciously putting it away, especially when I needed deep concentration for a task or when I needed to rest.

It is amazing how difficult having all of this technology at my fingertips makes it so challenging to unplug and relax.

I remember when I used to think of the holidays as time to can’t up on things that I’d not been able to get to at work. Thinking of that makes me want to vomit because I know I am not the only one who has done (or is doing) just that.

I enjoy my work, but I can’t work all the time.

I WON’T work all the time.

It isn’t healthy for me to be that kind of one sided in the way I live my life.

Take your rest when you need it. Don’t wait until you get sick or injured or dead.

Life your life.

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Marta is an award winning filmmaker, writer and producer committed to sharing the rich and complex stories of America’s Heartland region.  Marta wears several hats as Chief Creative-in-Charge of MartaGwyn Productions, LLC as well as the Co-Founder and Senior Grant Writer of Youngblood and Associates, LLC and Chief Operations Officer of Marta Collier Educational Systems and Services, LLC.

Marta is also the founder and editor-in-chief of TheWRITEaddiction.  An online community of writers that publish creative and inspirational works daily at www.TheWriteAddiction.com.

Marta is an alumna of The Ohio State University and Tougaloo College with degrees in Sociology and English-Journalism and resides in Little Rock, Arkansas, with her husband and unconventional college sweetheart of 10 years, Terrance Youngblood.