A pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong sleeps following an overnight rally. Credit: Press Association/Wally Santana.
I’m an activist. Up until recently, it’s what I spent all my time doing, both for work and outside of it. I love working so much that getting sick from it used to feel like a victory. A ‘look at me, look how hard I work’ kind of attitude. A badge of honour. I even came close to listing ‘12 hour days in the office’ as a skill on my LinkedIn profile.
Not too long ago a fellow woman of colour campaigner challenged me on this, asking why I liked working long hours so much. My response, which I genuinely believed to be true at the time, was that I really enjoyed doing work which contributed something of value to the world. So I liked doing it all the time, I guessed.
