Laura Waddell has written a typically incisive and witty column about the mindset that sees police officers hassling people for sitting down and social media influencers shaming people for not doing 13 million sit-ups and writing a novel every day.
Going into lockdown, and especially for the furloughed, many of us thought we would use the time productively. To work on a novel. To learn a language. A daily yoga practise. Crafting. But many have found it harder than they expected, distracted and made despondent by the bad news flowing each day. Are we putting pressure on ourselves to do these things because we want to, or because under a Capitalist society, endless productivity is demanded of us? In finishing that book with haste, are we responding to an artistic drive, or a marketing schedule? It is easy to internalise the pace of work, reenacting it even in downtime, particularly in those with insecure, freelance jobs, always hustling for the next gig.