On Our Best Behavior: The Price Women Pay to Be Good

by Elise Loehnen

We aren’t working 24/7—it just feels that way because we’ve lost control of our days. Work feels relentless because it follows us to the gym, to the bedroom, to dinner, to the bathroom at 2 A.M. Work has become a sprawl, something we do, and think about, all the time, instead of being relegated to the confines of an office or the outlines of a traditional workday. Through technology, our work pervades and invades every corner of our lives, zapping us with endless anxiety. There is no distinction between home and work anymore, which is why, when I sit in front of Netflix with my husband, I’m inevitably hammering away at online bills, to-do lists, memos, emails to teachers and friends, thank-you cards, presentations, and scheduling of meetings until he reprimands me. “Can’t you just relax? Can you just sit here and do nothing with me?”