Not sure if this is the right place for this but given that it involves feeling better from doing less work I figured it might be relevant here.
Also, I don't live in the US and so our working conditions (especially for the jobs I mention in this post) are generally quite pleasant and considerate and fair.
- So I generally work as a substitute teacher 5 days a week and then work an extra 2 hours on 3-4 days as a private tutor.
- Substitute teaching at my school generally isn't all that demanding, I mainly just supervise and they work independently; which requires little to no effort/intervention on my part at all.
- My private tutoring business is my little passion project that I greatly enjoy doing and find fulfilling but even though it doesn't take up much extra time, adding it to my schedule has made me feel a lot more drained.
We just had a 3 day weekend (public holiday) and I was astonished at how much better I felt and how much more refreshed I was just from an extra day off.
So I was curious why working a lot can be so physically and mentally draining and have a very noticeable impact on my ongoing mental health even if the work itself isn't very demanding at all?
Like for substitute teaching, I wouldn't be doing too much different than I would at home on my extra day off, except for a bit more accountability to step in if required.
I've done 7 day work weeks in the past (similarly low level effort/stress/energy jobs, before I added tutoring) and while I can manage it for a couple of weeks, I can't sustain it for long before I become a complete zombie.