It’s easy to get stuck in the cycle of going to work every day, coming back home, eating, watching something on Netflix or scrolling TikTok and then repeating until the weekend because you think this is what you’re supposed to do as a successful adult.
But a father from Arizona gives a bit of a different perspective. After working in retail for a while, he resigned and before leaving, he left a touching message to his coworkers, reminding them that work shouldn’t be the most important thing in their lives.
More info: TikTok
Manager leaves his team a message before leaving his job, encouraging them to not make their job a priority
Image credits: @navyveteran39
TikTok user navyveteran39 is a 41-year-old dad to 7 children and he currently lives in Arizona, although he was born in Louisiana. In the past, he served in the Navy, and about 6 years ago, he lost his wife.
Even though the app is considered to be used more by young people, the man enjoys creating silly videos. He also touches on political topics and makes more serious videos about the difficult emotions we sometimes feel but don’t talk about enough.
One of his recent videos went viral with 844k views and in it, the navy veteran filmed himself at work recording his last huddle with his teammates. It seems that the TikToker works in retail and was a manager, judging from how he started the message.
Before leaving his job, he didn’t want to talk about sales and customer service because he wanted to say goodbye to his coworkers as a friend instead of a boss.
He has lost a wife, a brother and a child so he knows how important spending time with beloved people is
Image credits: @navyveteran39
He encouraged them to take their time off and spend as much time as they can with their families, as he can’t do that with certain people in his life as they are no longer alive and you never know when will be that last day when you see them.
The man wanted people to understand that jobs replace people all the time, even if you are the most efficient and productive employee. But your family can’t replace you with someone else, nor can you replace a family member.
The manager even went as far as saying that working is a waste of time because the money you earn can’t buy you more time that you could spend with people you care about. So it’s important to take your time off and use up your vacation time to spend it on things that matter, which is strengthening your relationship with people that are dear to you.
So from his experience, it's not worth spending time earning more money, it's better to take those vacations and time off
Image credits: @navyveteran39
Image credits: The National Guard (not the actual image)
While it is important to maintain your relationships with people and have periods of rest, we can’t lie to ourselves and say that work is a waste of time because without it, we couldn’t survive if we want to be independent.
However, it is important to know your limits and not overdo it, as people have experienced that extra effort is not rewarded. Actually, Bored Panda has written an article exploring the topic of quiet quitting - when you stop going above and beyond for your work - which you can find here. We also made another article on a TikTok creator who encourages people to act their wage and you can learn more by clicking here.
Because the family can't replace a member, but a job will have your position listed before your obituary is announced
Image credits: @navyveteran39
Not only should you set limits on how much you work because you would like to spend time with family, but it also affects your health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) analyzed how long working hours affect a person’s life and how it relates to their death.
The results were quite concerning because “The study concludes that working 55 or more hours per week is associated with an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, compared to working 35-40 hours a week.”
Image credits: @navyveteran39
You can watch the man giving his final speech in the video below
Overworking isn’t healthy, neither for your body, mind, nor your social life, so it’s important to find balance. For navyveteran39, that meant leaving his job and finding more time for his family. But what do you think of his speech? Is it too unrealistic to ask people to not work too much because it’s taking time from being with your loved ones? Or do you think work/life balance depends solely on the employee? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
People in the comments agreed with the manager about people working too much and not spending enough time with family
