These social narratives can make our lives easier, by providing guidelines for behaviour, and they might sometimes make us happier, too. The stories around wealth and success, in particular, are social narratives that we can’t seem to get enough of. But beyond having a job – any job – one of the most widely used measures of success is having a good job, and doing well in your career. Many more people “choose” to work long hours because the social narrative of long work hours is so persuasive. We should have more respect than we currently do for those who forsake social narratives that simply aren’t for them.

Source: The Guardian January 06, 2019 09:22 UTC