Does this Work for You?
Your Work and Your Health
In Rethinking Intelligence, I talk a lot about work—its quality, its cultures, and its importance to your stress levels and health. Nearly every chapter of my book draws in some way on workplace research and gives in some ideas for building a positive relationship with one’s work. This was an intentional decision. As one of the two main things I put my time towards (that and parenting), I care a lot about the nature of my work and whether it is working for or against me.
I’ve been thinking a great deal about this as I have celebrated Teacher Appreciation, Mental Health Awareness, and Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage this month. My work as a teacher can be very enriching. It also comes with a great deal of stress and anxiety, especially surrounding student wellbeing. My students are taking huge risks in signing up for my classes to better themselves and put themselves on track for a future of meaningful work. But they are also under enormous pressure as they navigate financial pitfalls and the uncertainty of having their basic needs met—quality healthcare, affordable housing, and adequate pay for their on and off-campus jobs are in short supply for most.
We are in this together. That means that if they are not well, I am not well. As any Soc 101 class will tell you: we depend on each other both inside and out. I want my work and theirs to be as healthy as can be, but there are still many structural barriers to their wellbeing that stand in our way.
Your Background and Your Health
I have also been reflecting on my past work because it took a harder toll on my body than my present-day work. My first job was as a gas station pump attendant. I pumped gas in the sweltering heat of the sun, five days a week. On a hot day in the desert, checking transmission fluids could mean my face and upper body being squished between the hood and a revving engine at 130-degree temperatures. I had only chemically treated towels to wipe my brow. And there was no way to avoid the gasoline fumes flowing from the drips on my uniform as customers asked me to top up their tanks. Did I mention that I worked for tips?
I didn’t have much choice back then, because of my background. Not my genetic background, but rather my socioeconomic background. I had to choose from working-class jobs because that was what was available to me as a girl coming from a struggling AAPI household.
My own background was built upon my mom’s socioeconomic background as an AAPI immigrant working in this country. She came to the U.S. with the hopes of studying child psychology and working in the school system but did not have the money to finish her program. Though she had already completed the majority of her education in Indonesia, her course credits and degrees counted for nothing here, so she had to start again from the bottom. She became a domestic servant to wealthy families living in LA. She slowly worked her way up to office work, first as a secretary and later as a bookkeeper. But her own background—not her genetic one, but rather her socioeconomic status, immigrant status, and perceived race—delimited her ability to fulfill her dreams.
Back then, our jobs were relatively unhealthy, full of stress and uncertainty, and exceedingly low-paying. Today, my job is much more nurturing to my mind and body. Still, because so many of my students are where I was at, with parents struggling for many of the same reasons that my mom did, we are still far from clear of these struggles. So for reasons past, present, and future, this May I am calling for us to build a more nurturing system to push the needle from our work working against us to working for us.