At the start of the COVID-19 mandatory state shutdowns, layoffs, and calls for social distancing and self quarantining a common refrain throughout social media has been about “staying productive.” Start those projects that you’ve been meaning to, revamp your resume, start a business, do this, do that. Rarely have you been seeing anyone saying that it’s okay to just do nothing. We are at an unprecedented time of global anxiety and stress and the one coping mechanism that people can throw out is to be productive. I’d like to take this apart just a little bit.
This call for constant productivity sits a little differently with me as someone living with a disability. Much of Western culture and capitalism tells us that we are defined by how much and how well we produce something. Anything. You must always be working on something, creating something, creating wealth for you or someone else lest you be deemed a drain on society and a failure as a person. I’ve struggled and still struggle, with seeing myself as worthy of anything whether it be friendship, love, admiration, or whatever because I do not contribute to society in a way that is valued by in large. We are taught that existing is not enough and that we are somehow indebted to others in a way that can only be repaid through our labor no matter the toll it takes on us or if we can perform labor in a way that is recognized.
People who haven’t had to live the reality of not being able to produce some form of labor and are now being forced into it through massive layoffs, furloughs, or indefinite closures of their workplaces are now grappling with not just the strain of wondering how they are going to make ends meet, but the loss of what we’ve all been told makes us worthy as people. So we’re seeing people pushing themselves and others to be productive not necessarily as a way of coping, but as a way of running from the questions of “who am I if I’m not always doing, making, creating, producing?”
Capitalism has disconnected human beings from our inner selves. Our innate value and the value of others is no longer how we relate to each other. Worth is measured in job titles and pay rate, without a thought to how this will effect the psyche in economic downtimes. We are, what we do.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t people who gain fulfillment by staying busy or who just don’t have the economic luxury of always needing to add another pot to the fire. These are the realities for many. But there is also an unhealthy “grind culture” that has become prevalent, particularly on social media, that doesn’t allow for real human experiences. They see life in dollar and cents, minutes and seconds, networking events and social climbing. As much as we all believe we are above being influenced by social media or popular culture, this does affect us. We’ve lost the value in just being, just existing.
So if you can, sit down and think about out who you are and what your value is to the world divorced of what you produce. Who do you make smile? How do you treat others? What would be different if you weren’t here? Go a few days without being “productive” and ask yourself is what I do, who I am?
