Workaholism may not seem that bad. However, it can prevent you from having a good relationship with others and isolate you from even yourself. Sometimes the negative impact workaholism has on relationships are not seen until the ties with others have disintegrated. These are some signs of workaholism:
1) Little time fully engaged with someone.
Being engaged means that you are only focused on the person, or group of people, with the intent of connecting with them. Activities could be having a meaningful conversation, or aiming to reach a goal together. Think about how much time you spend fully engaged with someone. If it is shorter than you imagine, could it be because you’re not at home often due to work, or because you’re preoccupied when you’re at home? Being at home while not being emotionally present with your loved ones can be more damaging to your relationships than being absent.
2) You get almost all your self-esteem from work.
Like food, self-esteem should be from different sources. Your self-esteem should also be gained from relationships with others. If this is not the case, it could be because of a repetitive cycle. For example, you’re not emotionally available because of the large amount of time spent at work, hence others stop making themselves available as well.
3) Hiding underlying discontentment with work.
Workaholism can sometimes be related to untreated mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. Working overly hard is then used as a coping mechanism. This creates a cycle. You do not attend to the problem, letting it continue. Work is again the solution to not facing the problem. You may also be trying to hide your unsatisfactory relationships. Work may make you feel confident and competent, but you are still not facing the problem - which will only grow.
Workaholism comes about because you feel that if you slow down, you will have to face your problems. However, awareness will start creating the change to needed lead a life where you do not feel you need to avoid unhappiness, but instead feel like you are capable of tackling it. It is better to treat workaholism earlier rather than later.
Category(s):Addictions
Source material from Psych Central
