Welcome back blog readers! I fell 51 weeks short of my goal to blog weekly last year, but I recently watched something that got me back here. I’m a couple of years late to it, but Severance is one of the most thought-provoking forms of media I’ve consumed in in my life. Without spoiling anything, the premise of the show is that a company requires their employees to undergo the “severance” procedure which separates one’s work-life consciousness from their personal life consciousness. Imagine that the minute you walk into the office, everything goes blank, and you instantly regain consciousness once your workday is done while you’re walking out the door- with no memory of it! Inversely, imagine leaving the office for the day, and you immediately regain consciousness as you arrive back for your next workday. The catch here is ***SPOILER*** the personal life consciousness, or “Outies” as they’re referred to, make all the decisions. They can choose at any moment to re-integrate or retire their “Innies” and hold all the recognized authority in the intrapersonal power struggle. Interesting, right?

The question is, would you do it? At first thought it’s a no brainer. I could leave work every day without any stress or anxiety that builds up throughout the day? The show explores the other side of the coin though, ***SPOILER*** where the Innies are essentially held hostage in their miserable existence by their Outies. I’m someone who has often struggled to find a work/life balance. I go 100mph at whatever job I’m doing, with an imaginary chip on my shoulder, and burn myself out easily because of that. Whether it’s slinging pancakes, working with special needs adults, selling hospice care, or moving freight – I dedicate my life to being the best I can at whatever I’m doing. The upside of that mindset is that I’ve been able to reach personal and professional goals without the qualifications or experience that other people around me have. The downside of that mindset is that it’s easy to take work failures as personal failures, which can be incredibly self-destructive if not held in check.

While watching Severance, it had my mind racing as I put myself in their situation. I want to think that I wouldn’t put my work-self in an everlasting corporate purgatory, but if presented with the decision I’m not sure that I would be so noble. You see people all the time who don’t have to work or love what they do for work – for a variety of reasons – and when financial insecurity is removed, those people seem significantly happier. With the severance procedure, you would keep your employment and security while gaining the benefits of someone who isn’t a slave to their career. What if you never have a bad day at work? Every day you would come home happy and focused on your family, friends, and hobbies. Your life could be lived the way that you wanted, and your mental/emotional capacity can be used to live the fullest life possible.

But what is pleasure without pain? If you don’t experience distress, sadness, anxiety, pressure, fear, or any other negative emotions, will the things you enjoy provide the same satisfaction? There’s a reason why people enjoy going out for drinks or working out after a hard day at the office. The endorphin and dopamine rush from releasing that stress is incredibly satisfying, and I think that applies to more than initially realized. You could be excited to get home and watch a movie that just hit streaming, or go to a game, or go to the movies, or go out to dinner, or play video games, or go shopping – anything! Would you enjoy going to a museum every day? Would you enjoy watching movies or playing video games every day? This could just be me psychoanalyzing myself, but I think negative experiences can amplify good ones.

At the end of the day, our emotions make us human. I’ve always struggled controlling them, good and bad, but the highs and lows are what allow us to live life. I truly don’t believe that I would find fulfillment if I only existed in the 4pm-8am “home” space, the repetition and monotony would drive me insane. Morals aside, I could not imagine a world where corporations owned their employees’ daily rights. The fallout here would be catastrophic and would end in the Oligarchy controlling day-to-day life for the global population (I guess they already do, but you get the point). As more and more talk about “brain chips “and AI takes over public discourse, it’s important to remember that humanity is about individualism and expression of self.

So, would you have the severance procedure done to you? I’m on the side of no, it’s not worth losing yourself in an artificial attempt to avoid the tough part of life. The guilt that I would feel from imprisoning my Innie would consume me, and I think it would deprive me of the everyday joys that I experience. Anyways, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk if you made it this far. Give Severance a watch, it’s excellent!