Enemies of rest
Labour develops a person in general, his/her abilities, gifts and talents, provides an opportunity to buy food, clothing, accommodation, etc.
Workaholism is known everywhere. It stands alongside overeating, gambling, and inadequate sexual behaviour. All these flaws are kinds of obsessive behaviour. Almost in each excess there is some hidden and underlying purpose. Workaholism, unlike alcohol or gambling is a socially acceptable form of escape from problems. Strong incentive to work may also be caused by a hypertrophied sense of person's own usefulness and significance. If a person was constantly told in childhood that he/she had to be useful, then for him/her the time, not spent for work, is regarded as ineffective.
The work, particularly favourite, is good. But this habit has two major disadvantages.
First, overwork is harmful for the way one feels. Headache is the first symptom that signals about the overload.
Workaholics work by the maxim "I work as much as I can physically". They don't see a pernicious habit in their bias towards work. But the science of how to relax is totally unfamiliar to them. They aren't taught that mentality is not a perpetual motion machine, but has limited capacity and power and can deteriorate. As a result this person gets stress caused by overload. The consequences of stress, revealed in the form of mental or other illnesses can, of course, temporally deprive a person of the ability to work. But being out of work doesn't mean rest.
Ordinary people work unevenly: if there is an urgent work, they apply more effort and if there is no work or it is not urgent, they work listlessly. Workaholics act differently. Workaholism is a pathological dependence on work.
Secondly, continuous working is an escape from people, current problems and everyday life. This escape is conscious. Workaholics are sure that all other spheres of life are not so important and attractive. In fact, any work is an escape from responsibilities which, in general, may be more serious than workaholics agree to admit it.
The habit of plunging into the work, hiding from problems, most often occurs in people with certain psychological problems, who experience complicated relations, for example, in the family, or who are afraid of responsibility.
Work becomes a psychological protection for a workaholic, which reflects negative emotions.
Professional activities fully replace life for workaholics. They cannot concentrate on anything else except their work. Their circle of acquaintance is limited and determined by necessity; they are interested only in those things, which are relevant to their business. They pine away in free time; they are not so much concerned about the results of their work, but about the very process itself.
The main characteristic feature of a workaholic is absence of aspirations for any purpose. For an average person work is part of his/her life, while for a workaholic, on the contrary, life with all its social and domestic problems is a disappointing hindrance for work. Workaholics justify their actions by the sense of duty, the need to earn money, career, etc. In fact, this is an escape from pressing problems, an attempt to ignore their existence. Workaholic would like to rest, but doesn't know how.
How to get rid of the habit to hide behind the work? Ask yourself a question: whether there is a need to devote every minute of your life to work or it is your own choice. Workaholism is curable if you understand that you are a workaholic and have some serious problems and difficulties, from which you try to escape by means of your work. As soon as you stop feeling any discomfort in other spheres of life, you will no longer need refuge, given to you by your work.