Jonathan Frostick, a program manager at an investment bank in London, said he could not breathe when he sat down at his computer on a recent Sunday afternoon and prepared for the work week ahead. His chest tightened and his ears began to protrude. He has a heart attack.
His first thoughts were how it would disrupt his working life.
“I had to meet with my manager tomorrow,” he said. Frostick, who works for HSBC, wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “It’s not convenient.”
Later, when he was recovering in a hospital bed, Mr. Frostick begins to investigate his life, he writes. Under a photo of himself in his hospital bed, he posted new promises for his life:
“I no longer spend all day zooming in.”
“I’re restructuring my approach to work.”
He would not tolerate work drama anymore. “Life is too short,” he wrote.
Finally: “I want to spend more time with my family.”
Since describing his epiphany a week ago, his post has been liked more than 200,000 times. It received more than 10,000 comments from readers describing how their own brushes with death led them to retire from their jobs and take stock of the way they lived their lives.
The post resounded at a time when tired people around the world are experiencing annoyance, anxiety and more work stress under the coronavirus pandemic.
Even those lucky enough to keep their jobs questioned their purpose in life while spending long hours on Zoom calls and answering emails.
At the same time, employees who have managed to strike a better balance between their jobs and their personal lives during the pandemic are now counting on returning to the office, allowing them to reconsider how much time they want to devote to work.
“I know many people over the past few years who have suffered life-threatening illnesses simply because there is no downtime – always on call,” a management consultant from Alberta, Canada, wrote in response to Mr. Frostick. “It’s absolutely detrimental to our health, but we’ve built on the existence we always have to keep pushing.”
Another person described how she got so burnt out at work that she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
“I’m telling you, brother,” wrote a self-described entrepreneur from Nigeria who said he had sold his multiple cars and homes to lead a happier, more ‘Spartan’ life. ‘Brother, welcome to real life. Now you will truly, truly live. ‘
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Others offered him tips on how to lose weight – Mr. Frostick also promised to drop 15 pounds or ask him to appear on their podcasts so he could share his story with their listeners.
In addition to remuneration and professional status, a job offers social rewards, such as praise from colleagues and supervisors, that can become addictive, said Glen Kreiner, a professor of management at the University of Utah.
People become so protective of the identity that a job creates for them, that they will work long, arduous hours, without considering whether they are happy or fulfilled, to protect it, Professor Kreiner said.
“We as humans tend to be mindless instead of mindful,” he said. “If we’re in a meaningless state, we’re on an autopilot.”
Professor Kreiner added: “Sometimes it’s a catastrophe like this to break us out of the motorboat.”
Mr. Frostick did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Frostick, a father of three young children, said he and his colleagues “spent an excessive amount of time on Zoom calls during the pandemic.”
Before the heart attack, Mr. Frostick worked for twelve hours, missed his colleagues and suffered from the isolation of work from home.
“We can’t have those other conversations along the side of a desk or at the coffee machine, or make a turn and go chat,” Frostick told Bloomberg. “It was quite profound, not only in my job, but also in the professional service industry.”
Robert A. Sherman, a spokesman for HSBC, said the company told employees it was important to balance work with a healthy lifestyle.
“We all wish Jonathan a complete and speedy recovery,” he said in an email. ‘We also realize the importance of personal health and well-being and a good work-life balance. The answer to this topic shows how many people think so and we encourage everyone to make their health and well-being a top priority. ”
Mr Frostick on Wednesday thanked the thousands of people who wrote to him and wrote that he could now move two to three hours at a time in his home.
Later, he wrote another post indicating that he had moved from psychological inquiry to profound philosophical questions.
“Who am I? It’s like a mystery that my mind can not solve,” he wrote. “I have no idea who I am anymore. It’s going to take a while … Can you answer who you are? ? ‘