"I remember the first time on a Sunday morning he told me he'd have to go into the office. I was appalled. Then I thought, wait, this is his way of telling me it's over. Turned out, quite the contrary. For him it was completely natural that if his work summoned him, he'd go.
"This is what wrecked our relationship in the end. He was married to his work, not to me. He was working for a big investment firm, running a kind of a hedge fund. I'd tell him, just quit. You have made enough for us to live on for years to come. What's stopping you? We can travel. You are destroying your health, you can't sleep without sleeping pills any more, then in the morning you need more pills to get going.
"And he'd say, I know you're right, this job is taking over everything, I am losing you. Give me 10 more years and I'll never have to work another day in my life, I'll never have to go back.
"We both knew that he would never quit, He loves his job, it's his life, his identity. He'd call me up from New York, all cheery that his company put him in a double suite two floors higher than his peer which meant they'd spent $200 more than on him. Then he'd tell me it was foggy and the higher up you were in that hotel, the worse it got. "I am in a fucking cloud!" he'd say, and I'd go, "that's your karma", and we'd laugh.Sometimes, it makes you wonder if it is all worth it. What if living the life you love meant giving up the love of your life?
HT: Joris Luyendijk
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