Work Life Balance

I am not at all an expert on this topic, but I wanted to share a few thoughts I have about it. Many people believe that they have no choice but to put work before their own existence simply because they reason, "If not me, who else will do this job?" I find that this latter question is a noble one, in the sense that it doesn't shift blame or responsibility to others when it comes to doing work that needs to be done. However, I have recently observed in myself this fine line between seeing something as needing to be done and seeing that actually I am creating some of this urgency in myself. Even when a company is strapped for time and resources, there is in fact never a time when a person direly needs to do anything to survive. Want to? Yes. Is this additional work I might be taking on an asset to keeping this job? Of course. But one is never ever forced to go beyond what they are reasonably capable of doing to make those ends meet. It's only when a person starts to imagine that they absolutely must exceed all their targets that this "nice" and "want to" becomes a dire need to one's mind. So, one must always ask the question, is it really that I need to do all of this, or is this should only representing an ideal that is shared (albeit temporarily and tentatively) between manager and employees?
   I think it's important to reflect that every goal that takes place in the workplace is really designed to maximize human potential in the face of a collective vision or goal. It is not about stretching oneself, but rather there is an ideal there which represents how the organization might benefit from someone's dedicated work. But when taken to extremes, ideals can sometimes lead to human exhaustion or even a creative exhaustion, realizing that too much of anything can become a kind of deadening routine over time. That's why it's important that people ask themselves whether working hard and fast is always conducive to a healthy mind and body.