Thursday 5 February 2009

Such stories are getting closer

We have all heard about it. In fact, I have even blogged about it. I am referring to cases where people work so hard, they ended up dead. There was a case of a Romanian. And closer to home, there was a case of this Singapore girl who too, lost her life due to over-work.

I have actually heard a real life story from a friend where her hard-working boss went to toilet prior to a meeting but never came out from there. The boss died of heart attack while relieving himself in the toilet.

And now, right before my very eyes, there is someone from my church who joined the Church History Class in my church just who passed away in his sleep 2 days ago. After a post-mortem and discussion with the doctors, it is believed that the cause of his death is “acute stress”. He has been working non-stop for the past few weeks, sleeping only 3-4 hours a day. He was 24.

Out of respect to him, I am not going to go into his details. When I blogged about the 2 stories which I mentioned earlier, many agree that work is not life. How many of us actually follow that motto till today?

May we all realise that there is more to life than work before it’s too late.

May this person who just lost his life rest in peace in the company of angels in heaven.


1 year ago…
The 3 seeksJust another day of work

2 years ago…
Morons of the same brain park together

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

A good life gone too soon. There is more to who we are than what we do to earn a living, that's for sure. That's why I refuse to answer the question "What do you do?" with "I'm an accountant/doctor/engineer" ... I give them the answer that makes me free... I am a writer and I know there is more to life than a mere job.

Anonymous said...

honestly... the second story scares hell out of me. Sorry to the person and god bless him. ive been working like him too lately and i only get to sleep for few hours before i went to work again. Man! I should take a long rest after this... haiz..... God Bless that im still alive =))

Anonymous said...

I wish I knew him. I heard about him, and visited his blog. Would love to have known him.

Life is so fragile. We can be called to the Lord at any time.

PS: I will be going to church this week. Perhaps I can see you there.

jlshyang said...

Gosh, people overworked and die but here I am hoping to enter the working world sooner.

Fi-sha said...

Dear Zewt, may his soul rest in peace amongst the beloveds. In his case, the good dies young.

May we never forget this - Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life

Anonymous said...

Oh he is from your church, i wished i knew him. I heard he's a great young chap. Visited his website, my tears were flowing down reading at the tributes. RIP!

Oh, perhaps you need to start teaching people 101 ways to relax your ass off!!!

huntressmoon said...

may he rest in peace... finally

Anonymous said...

when u meet a korean...1st thing they would wish u is health then baru wealth

24...damn zewt...scary stuff

Winn said...

young ppl's priority is always work. sigh...

may he rest in peace..

Terra Shield said...

Oh my. That's teribble, Zewt.

modernlifeisrubbish said...

Zewt, good post to create awareness. Dying from stress caused by overworking is quite common in Japan. They even commit suicide when unable to handle the stress.

The person in your church is still very young and has not even experience life. It's such a waste of life when there are still many ways he could have contribute to this country.

It's time all employees and workers realize that it's really not worth dying for a job, literally. To many, work defined who a person is but work certainly is not life. Maybe as we grow older and (hopefully wiser) only do we know the truth.

Read somewhere that a job is just that - "Just Over Broke".

Happy Chap Goh Mei over the weekend, ya. Take good care.

Swee Ping said...

24??? that is scary.. im also under stress and the effect of it is drastic weight loss. now im like boney.. >_< am trying to pickup the food intake more now but now i have no appetite! @_@

Huei said...

sigh..everyone forgets what's the meaning of life..to work for leisure..or work for the doctor?

then comes along those who enjoys life too much..my bf's relative drank too much during cny n passed away suddenly..they (as in the guy n his friends) were going home in a car when suddenly the rest of them discovered his body was cold..

gRaCe said...

it's really scary hearing bout news like tht... ppl dying because of work. i have some friends who overwork as well.. sometimes i wish they jst get some rest.. but when u have deadlines and projects to rush.. it's no wonder you don't get enough rest.

i make it a point not to think or talk bout work after work. it's jst not healthy.. i used to be so stressed at my ex-comp tht i can't sleep at night.. and i get so scared thinking of going to work the next day. tht was why i quit after 6 mths.. life is too short to be stressed up bout work.

now i'm at a new company.. it's very very busy at times, but there's not much stress.. thank God for tht.. ;o)

foongpc said...

I think people who overworked often have very high stress and too little sleep. This is an ingredient for heart attack and death. But have you heard of Thai workers who died mysteriously in their sleep with no apparent illness or symptoms of disease? It was in the news a few years back - now, that's scary!!

jlshyang said...

Oh dear, zewt. Marcus was from your church? I just realised you were referring to him. We had a few mutual friends. He has touched so many ppl's lives. May his soul rest in peace.

Anonymous said...

Hi Zewt, I have been diagnosed by a qualified physician that I am under lots of work stress - been having breathing difficulty and high BP. When I produced the letter to the HR in my office, they just refused to accept the diagnosis. Can you believe tha?t!

PS I am only in my early thirties.

Anonymous said...

Zewt, I am sorry to hear about your church mate.

I heard a story too about a friend's colleague who died in the car park. He was about to go home but he didn't. He sat in his car and died of heart attack. He was 28.

You are younger than me, but I see a lot of right attitude coming out from you. That's a good thing.

I don't understand the "new breed" now. Look at my cousin sis, born in 1989. She is waiting for STPM results.. and here she is.. sitting and mopping around at home, chatting on the MSN.

Actually, can't blame her sometimes. It's the rising criminal rate that had parents worried about their kids looking for a job outside. So, the kids now are pretty sheltered.

Tunku Halim said...

The problem from very young has been the statement: "When I grow up I want to BE a doctor/lawyer/artist etc." We falsely equate who we are with our work.

The correct statement should be: "When I grow up I want to work as as a doctor/lawyer/artist etc."

We are NOT our work.

3POINT8 said...

If i ever have a chance to ask them, i wonder if they'll say that its worth it.

Lisa said...

it's kinda sad how we are slaves to the work we're in...

I have heard about someone died of over-work before last year..
her case was she has been working non-stop, long hours and out of a sudden she had the time to go for a vacation back home... but she suddenly got sick (doc said out of over-stress)..and never recover, until the day she died...(which is after 2wks)

Anonymous said...

Reading at your post, I think I should stop blogging for today. Let's get some rest...

zewt said...

life for beginners - well, the best answer would be... i live.

JustinKC - hi there. you should while you still have a chance. dont repeat the mistake mankind has been making throughout history.

Messy Christian - eh, you didnt turn up right?

jlshyang - changed of info, he only came for a while.

fi-sha - yes, may we not forget the lesson we learned today.

Aoki - hahaha... it's easy... just take it easy. i have actually blogged plenty of times about it.

huntressmoon - yeah, he is truly at rest now.

zewt said...

erm - actually, he was 23.

winn - what is your priority then?

terra shield - very... very very!!

joshua wong - hi there. welcome to AZAIG. no job is worth dying for. the problem is, many have the perception that without a job, you are dead. that's the cause of the problem.

swee ping - hey... better start eating. put up some pounds :)

huei - wow... that's scary!! well, at least he enjoyed himself.

gRaCe - keep the good work. we all need constant reminder to keep ourselves on the right path.

zewt said...

foongpc - this person who just passed away had the same symptoms. very scary indeed.

KGC - i should really blog about your topic... come back to you on this...

gina - ppl dying abruptly during their 20s seem to be very common nowadays huh...

tunku halim - my sentiments exactly.

3POINT8 - i will die instantly if they yes.

lisalicious - we are really dropping like flies... arent we?

jam - good move brother.