The story for everyone, everywhere, is the same: we never leave work behind.
How did this happen?
Harmlessly, at first. We wanted to get ahead, so we worked a little harder. We got caught up in making progress, making payments, making hay. Then screens and devices came along, and that meant we could make more progress. More payments. More hay.
Or, that’s how it seemed.
Ironically, along the way we forgot one of the fundamental reasons we were working so hard: we wanted to support our families—especially our kids—and we wanted to develop the freedom to spend quality time with our family on our own terms.
What we failed to notice was that the efforts we made to financially support our children were undermining our ability to emotionally support them. The devices that seemed to so effortlessly connect us were, in fact, dividing us.
We, all of us, were slowly, inexorably, drifting apart. We were—we are—disconnecting.
Of course, we still “spend time” together.
Right now, for instance, you may be thinking, “Come on, Jim, I take my kids to baseball, piano, and gymnastics. We eat dinner together at the table, and we watch TV together after homework is done. We spend lots of time together.”