Why do we buy into the 'cult' of overwork?
I stayed in a small town outside Chablis, France, many years ago. I rented a room above the only restaurant in town. There were a few businesses, mostly food-related and clothing repair. Everything just seemed slowed down. I watched a man in waders unload a dead boar he had just shot to the butcher at 9am. I watched two other men repairing brickwork on a foundation. I watched another woman tending a large garden, then go to work at a bar&#x2F;restaurant. The stores were open for just a few hours. The shelves were free of random plastic trinkets and gadgets.<p>It just seemed like it was 1&#x2F;10th the normal speed, somewhat Luddite... and every task seemed oddly fundamental.<p>I&#x27;ve also encountered towns like this in Spain, Greece, Austria, Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, Uruguay, Thailand and Cambodia.<p>After reading these comments, I would never have believed that so many small towns exist that seem untouched by 24-hour stores and everything cheap and on-demand. It sounds inevitable that everyone is eventually pushed into hyperinflationary always-working mode. But yet, these places persist. I might even chalk it up to depressed economies and &quot;third-world&quot; nature, but my samples include all sorts of economies.<p>I think we choose what kind of lifestyle we want, but it needs to be done at the community level. Without going all &quot;we should all be farmers hippie dippy portland nature fetishist&quot;, it does seem like decisions have consequences and it is possible to steer away from hyperactivity.