AM I A WORKAHOLIC?
18 February 2026
AM I A WORKAHOLIC?
Disclaimer: This article may contain affiliate links although I have never made a single dime from one, I’m required by law to provide a disclaimer.
If I am a workaholic, I don’t care.
Honestly, I’m pretty sure I am a workaholic, but I’m not going to blame anyone else. Growing up, I had intense role models. My parents and extended family members were all middle class and had to work incredibly hard to make ends meet, food appear on the table, and apparel that met the fashion expectations of the day available to everyone. If we were poor, I didn’t get the memo, but I also don’t remember wanting too much besides a book to read, the time and freedom to read it, and paper and pencil with which to write my own poems and stories.
When I was twelve years old, my parents, who were self-employed (my Dad actually worked two jobs year-round; one full-time and one part-time, both as a contractor,) decided I should be more conscious of the money necessary to run a business and a household. I was happy to learn and by the age of fourteen I was keeping the financial books for both of them. As the family bookkeeper for two entrepreneurs, did I maybe see too much work going on? Did I assume everybody worked all the time? I don’t remember thinking that, but perhaps it influenced me more than I knew, because flash forward I will work, work, work until something is done or I run myself into the ground and get sick.
Something called the Bergen Work Addiction Scale entered the world around 2012. It was compiled by researchers in Norway and the United Kingdom and administered to over 12,000 working Norwegians. It’s based on the traditional psychological conditions indicating addiction to anything and is developed in specific accordance with the principles of work. Here are the seven basic criteria of the Bergen scale:
- You think of how you can free up more time to work.
- You spend much more time working than initially intended.
- You work in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness and depression.
- You have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them.
- You become stressed if you are prohibited from working.
- You deprioritise hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise because of your work.
- You work so much that it has negatively influenced your health.
How many do you recognize in yourself? I meet six of the seven. Whatever.
To save me from myself, my Mom introduced me to yoga when I was eighteen. She probably recognized the type A (for Always busy) oldest child syndrome leaking out. Because I was a competitive gymnast, hatha yoga suited my twisty-twirly, boneless body just fine. Consequently, I have practiced yoga and meditate to counterbalance my worker bee personality ever since.
And although not much is said about it, the dirty little secret of gymnastics AND ballet is that you can’t do that stuff forever. THAT has haunted me forever. The last day of ballet, the last day of back handsprings, and the last night of reading till dawn were difficult for me.
The last day of storytelling will inevitably make its appearance. That will be a really tough one. Eyes, hands, shoulders, spine, and hips will eventually stop cooperating. My pragmatic side gets this. My creative side says, “Get this shit done before you can’t!” So, I read books, write books, sell books, and help others with their book needs while I can and until I can’t.
That’s why I am a workaholic. One day the work won’t work.
Are you a workaholic? I took this test on the Psychology Today website and scored a B-. Well, damn. I would love to know what you score. Remember to take such things with a healthy, side-eye of skepticism.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/tests/career/workaholic-test
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JOY E. HELD is a busy author, educator, editor, book coach, entrepreneur, and literary citizen responsible for this site and its contents. She is the author of
Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc., 2020)
Writer Wellness Workbook: A Guided Workbook and Journal to Accompany Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc., 2023)
The Mermaid Riot (Fire and Ice YA, 2024) Young Adult Historical Fantasy
Saving Marietta: Journey to Freedom, Book 1 (Headline Books, Inc., 2026) Adult Historical Romance
She is the winner of multiple writing and book awards:
West Virginia Writers, Inc. Annual Writing Contest, Honorable Mention, Novel, 1998.
New York Book Festival, Honorable Mention, Writer Wellness, 2020.
Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Finalist, Writer Wellness, 2021.
Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America, Member of the Year, 2020.
Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America, First Book Award, 2020.
She is an adjunct faculty member in the Southern New Hampshire University Online MFA Creative Writing.
She is a proud graduate of Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA with an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction.
She is a member of The Authors Guild and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Joy is the founder and CEO of My WRITEDAY Subscription Box for writers and readers.
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