I recently picked up a book by the author Patricia Hampl entitled The Art of a Wasted Day. Her book challenges the modern notion that every moment must be productive and efficient, suggesting that true fulfillment comes from embracing moments of stillness and allowing the mind to drift.
Musing on Hampl’s words called to mind my last Roanoke Star article. The topic reflected on how Americans can learn from Europeans regarding the theme of having more time to vacation – the European vacation – that is, three weeks. One friend who read that article agreed that almost everyone would embrace the idea of a three-week vacation. A vacation that embodies letting go of the past, enjoying the present, and casting a vision for the future. Yet this type of vacation is not one really experienced by many Americans. Yes, a vacation of that length of time would be a welcome respite from the hurried life that most Americans live. However, the true culprit of this “vacation time fail” lies in the employer’s purview of power and not the tired “American” vacationer.
However, there is a generation or two who are becoming adept at securing more vacation time and longer hiatuses from work. And who are these that are helping us claw back more leisure and vacation time? The young Millennials and Gen Zs. These 20-something workers are more intentional about how they carve out more time from their work worlds.
With a quick look backward at the idea of the balance of work and personal life, we see two generations of people who endured the WWI years, as well as WWII. These world wars demanded the maximum number of workers. However, at quitting time, there was a refuge of friends and family that they returned to. And in sharing that life together, whether at church or family and friends’ gatherings on weekends, or time spent at sporting events or a local pub, the importance of relationship remained the ballast of what we now call “quality of life”. Considering vacation time for the working generations of our grandparents and great grandparents’ lives, there were few trips to destination places in the US, much less a trip to a continent across the Atlantic. Without the modern conveniences we now consider de rigueur, the demands of life consumed much of our predecessors’ free time. For “vacations”, Americans in the past had getaways to pastimes in nature such as hiking and swimming, once again with communities of family and friends joining them. And here we are at the basis of what is the bedrock and of European culture – friends and family.
The Baby Boomers were next to the work front. So much has been said and written about this generation, and it is still the fodder of conversations about the culture they built around work ethics and wealth building. From the end of WWII to the culturally changing 60’s, this group hit the workforce hard and made vast advances in work productivity and accumulation of wealth. The Baby Boomers traveled much more than their parents, but these Americans pursued work and success with a fervor unlike their predecessors. What was the cost of these advances? Innovations in technology made it possible to get even more done in a day’s work, which bred monetary success. The proverbial “keeping up with the Joneses” became the cliché for this generation and made the next step, “outdoing the Joneses”, a lifestyle that rendered ‘identity’ from things bought or rising status among peers, but often left these individuals wearied and fatigued in body, mind, and soul.
So, how did the younger Millennials and Gen Zs decide that the world of work needed limits? Perhaps the realization that a myriad of material goods and a life devoid of free time to enjoy others don’t necessarily bring the rest that the soul, body, and mind crave. The idea of a well-paced walk rather than a race became a goal of these new workers. And what they dreamed possible became reality on many levels. They may not yet have been successful in securing a paid three-week summer “European vacation”, but they have been successful in bringing new ideas to the interview negotiating table. No more work emails and texts to the employee’s phone while on non-work time. More leave time for both parents when starting a new family. More flexibility in the daily work schedule and time off. These two groups in today’s workplace have placed work second and “quality of life” first. The Gen Zs, especially, have gone so far in their desire for work and private life to be in balance that they typically will turn down employment offers when the job doesn’t fit this new model.
Having a say in how workers ‘do work’ is commonplace in many European countries. In a recent conversation with my nephew, who was born and raised in Europe, he stated that he was not interested in the “American obsession with work and how self-identity is derived from the profession that one is in. In fact, he related how he negotiated with his employer for lengthy vacation time, as well as more remote work and occasional long weekends away from work. And he was successful in what he asked for! He emphasized that “quality of life” was most important, not a life chasing money and self-worth. When I see his posts on Facebook, I don’t read much about his work life at all. It’s about his time spent at the barn mucking a stable and then venturing out for a ride on his horse. It’s about taking a motorcycle trip across the countryside and pedaling an electric bike on excursions close to home. Finally, there’s the small lake house he retreats to on summer weekends, where he plays music with his band at local pubs. And these activities are all with a group of friends who have the same lifestyle. Good golly! It can make young Americans rethink the work world here in the States. And they are doing just that!
For the young Millennials and Gen Zs, there’s a desire NOT to work as their parents did. And perhaps not all will climb the ladder of “work success” as measured in beaucoup money. But they will be rich in their relationships with family and friends. They will enjoy and breathe in the everyday life that sometimes Americans are just trying to get through to make it to a weekend for rest and relaxation, which is never enough.
Americans do not live on the level of the European framework of time, work, and the sharing of daily life with friends and family. Aren’t the quaint and inviting cafes on the squares and streets of Europe testaments to the belief that time is made for us, not the other way around? Europeans don’t live life at full throttle like Americans do. I don’t just write this from “gazing across the pond” and being wistful. While living in Europe for 12 years as an American expat, I came to appreciate the life of not chasing. Not chasing whatever it is that causes us Americans to live at a pace that can be very unhealthy – physically, mentally, and spiritually. There’s more awareness and belief in Europe not to push the limits of a vocation. There is intentionality in caring for themselves so that there is capacity to “do life” at a fuller degree than I think we have here in the States. Pauses in the day for coffee with a colleague or friend. A conversation that’s not based on what happened at work. A conversation that actually goes to a deeper level – not talking about people, not talking about events. But talking about topics that require mindful thought and heartfelt discussion. You need time to go deeper, and the European lifestyle is an excellent guide for us in these arenas.
As my American friends who recently got back from a European getaway noted, the quieter, relaxed lifestyle was what they enjoyed the most in their travels. In fact, they were intoxicated by it. They are now trying to figure out how to change their fast daily American rhythms to those of the Europeans.
I am an American. But I’ve lived abroad for a total of 13 years in my lifetime. Sometimes I forget how peacefully I lived there compared to my lifestyle here in the States. We Americans need the lesson of Hampl’s The Art of the Wasted Day and more. I think Hampl is onto something here. Indeed, she is half European Czech, so perhaps she knows what she’s talking about. And I think we’re listening.
Dawn Custalow is an EL educator and teaches students who do not speak English as their first language. She currently works at William Fleming high school in Roanoke. She enjoys writing as well as public speaking on themes of education, cultural training, and Virginia Indian history – both past and present. Dawn is an alum of VA Tech and an enrolled tribal member of the Mattaponi Indian reservation in West Point, Virginia.