http://carbon.ucdenver.edu/~bgoodric/The%20Calvinist%20Work%20Ethic%20and%20Consumerism.htm
...having been raised Protestant I get it...
U.S. "workaholism" : An Ideological Attitude
If you've ever been to Europe (besides the U.K., the Scandinavian countries, protestant Germany, and Switzerland), or if you’ve been to Mexico, or Central or South America (or most of the rest of the world), you've probably noticed that these cultures have an entirely different orientation to work and leisure from that of most U.S. people. Residents of these other countries are usually baffled by the frantic "workaholism" typical of the U.S. (and parts of Northern Europe). These people can put in grueling hours, as U.S. citizens commonly do. Unlike U.S. residents, though, if they work tremendously hard, it's because they need to do so -- the job requires it, they need the money, or some such thing. They make a conscious decision in favor of it.
Most U.S. people, on the other hand, seem psychologically impelled to work much too hard for no obvious reason. Many of us actually feel guilty if we aren't working much too hard. And we tend to think very highly of people who hate what they do; that is irrationally seen as somehow more virtuous than having a job one loves!
This workaholic attitude is often treated (by people in the U.S.) as just common sense, just part of human nature. It's not. It's a distinct phenomenon, only a few centuries old (that is, very, very recent in terms of human history), localized to a few areas of the globe, and with specific causes in those areas. *
* (The Japanese traditional devotion to duty requires a similar self-discipline, but in other respects is very different from the usual U.S. workaholism.)
If you and your parents were born and raised in the U.S., chances are that you have this "workaholism" in some form or another.
This workaholism can be very unfortunate in itself, but what is perhaps most damaging is that it was also often accompanied by a devastating secret self-doubt and self-judgmentalism, and a very rigid sense of self-righteousness and dehumanization of others. This tendency can sneak in even today, even in people who would be appalled by it, if they were aware of it.
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