Transit

Saturn and work-life balance

By Chris Ogilvie

It was 8.50 at night. The battery on my mobile phone died, cutting off my boss in mid flow. Hugely relieved I went upstairs to have a bath. As I soaked in the warm bubbles I reflected on how insane today’s workplace has become, with its long hours, excessive workloads and erosion of boundaries. With Neptune cruising through the technological sign of Aquarius we now have no downtime. All time is one. Email, Blackberries, mobiles means we are available well after the ‘shop has closed’; on the beach, in the car, in bed. Sunday, once the day of rest is now the second busiest shopping day.

For me, weekends and evenings have long lost their separateness from ‘the office’. I was even sent 2 work emails on Christmas day!! This year I will have to keep up with my emails while on holiday abroad. Work life balance is a huge struggle for me and I work allegedly part time in my day job and am not looking after children.

While transiting Saturn has been weak in Cancer and Leo some sacred lines of demarcation have come even more blurred. The outcomes are not necessarily desirable. So called flexibility created by technology has merely enslaved us. We have a generation of children who spend too many hours in virtual reality and are being brought up by tired busy parents. Here is my plea for some sanity.

Dear Mr Saturn,

While you are travelling through Virgo, please will you help us put some boundaries back into our lives, separating work from home and leisure. Help us to recover the sense of downtime and rest from service to others. Show us the health consequences of our long hours culture and help us take more responsibility for our wellbeing. Remind us our bodies are not machines and should be cherished and respected.

As you move on into Libra, help us restore balance in our lives to nurture the relationships that are precious to us. Let us see that quality of human interaction is more important than constant accessibility. May the concept of work-life balance cease to be an empty concept in Government and business policy and start becoming a reality that we live and fight for.

Thank you,

Chris Ogilvie