Bad Hours.
I have ten minutes to write. I enjoy the process of writing, and with less personal time in my days than ever, it feels challenging to make this happen. I will allow myself five minutes to edit and refine my work. That totals fifteen minutes to express whatever comes to mind. The goal is for this to be more of a stream of consciousness than a fully composed or structured piece.
I missed two days of this practice because I was hosting a rental this weekend. Taking a day or two off makes sense for maintaining long-term work and avoiding the trap of perfection. This leads me to the topic of today: current work rhythms are quite askew from my perspective.
Living in towns with significant industry and extraction-based prosperity nearby, it is evident how destructive inconsistent rhythms can be. For example, one of the more common coal mine shifts is four days on, four days off, then four nights on, and four days off. I may not be entirely accurate, however, that's what I've heard. This pattern allows for nearly no consistent schedule within our seven-day week system. Four is not an integer of seven; therefore, the days off will inconsistently line up with any other standard schedule. Another example of bad schedules that I've heard of and are common in pipeline/oil field/natural gas jobs is the three weeks on, one week off or really any variation of that. Long stretches of time away for work with less time off for relationships. These patterns feel inherently destructive to the centuries of practices and daily routine structures. Additionally, apart from first responders and emergency workers, working nights should be illegal. For an employer to standardize working when humans are designed to sleep is the pinnacle of greed and disregard for the person. I'm sure arguments about maintaining equipment, or monitoring, or a variety of other pathetic reasons could be made. The reality is, humans have rhythms; we cannot naturally see in the dark, and we do better in community.
The community part is relevant because these schedules that take people away from societal norms are destructive to the community. I've experienced strained relationships with people I care about or would like to get to know better because of these obscure schedules. I would love to hear a rebuttal, and I could significantly expand on these points. I may be so bold as to say that the decline of Western society could be partially due to stepping away from the 5-2 or 6-1 work week.
