We’re in a period of profound transformation. Everything about the way we work, and the place of work in our lives, is being questioned, challenged and redefined. For #Day15 of the #AfroBloggers’ #WinterABC2023 blogging challenge, let’s light up the room with a discussion on the human energy revolution! As old norms and assumptions fall away, the Human Energy Revolution has the potential to be just as consequential as the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Since the second century, Ptolemy’s theory that the sun revolves around the earth had been dominant. Then, in 1543, Copernicus published his revolutionary theory that the earth actually revolves around the sun. Today the Human Energy Revolution is replacing a model of life and work that dates back to the Industrial Revolution when we assumed that life revolved around work. Humans were considered to be mostly vessels for work. The goal was to minimize downtime. All time not spent sleeping — and in fact, much of the time that should have been spent sleeping — was just more time to be monetized and colonized. It was a way of working that didn’t just result in burnout, it celebrated burnout. And it was a precursor to our own modern version of hustle culture: bragging about being on “24/7,” powering through exhaustion and proclaiming “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” But the sun doesn’t revolve around the earth — and our lives are not meant to revolve around work.
The Human Energy Revolution is about acknowledging the truth that life should be centered around our full humanity, which includes work but also includes nurturing our health and well-being, our relationships, our capacity for wonder and joy and for giving back.
When our lives revolve around our full humanity, we’re able to fulfill our fundamental need to connect not just to ourselves but to something larger than ourselves.
THE LEO NATION 