Taking Care of Your Mental Health is a Beautiful Thing
The Washington Post article on October 12, 2021 titled "A record number of workers are quitting their jobs" dovetails nicely with the point I made in my previous blog post about many people re-evaluating their values and priorities. The social changes we are experiencing and witnessing are structural shifts which are likely to become permanent.
People want to have lives that offer more than day to day drudgery, which many of these low paying jobs offer. There are also monumental shifts in the number of people leaving well paid professional jobs in healthcare.
What all of these people have in common, whether in low paying jobs or high paying jobs, is that they want to be safe and be shown respect and appreciation. Many of them are burned out.
These basic human rights transcend financial remuneration. It is indicative of huge paradigm shifts in our culture wherein people are tired of being under-valued and unappreciated. It takes courage to acknowledge one's self worth, and ultimately, people leaving jobs in which they are poorly treated are expressing a recognition of their self worth.
In therapy, developing self-worth is a critical component for good mental health and what the people who are leaving their jobs for a better life are doing is therapeutic. They are taking control of their lives. I admire them for their courage to change. They are demonstrating self-respect by taking care of their mental health. It is a beautiful thing.
