"Resting is a Sin?" | My Busy Weekend as a 50yo Rural Worker

[00:00:00]Living in rural China, why do I feel like I've never learned how to take a proper break in my whole life?

[00:00:08]Hi everyone, I'm Shila, a 50-year-old woman living in rural China.

[00:00:15]Many of you from other countries tell me in the comments that you envy my slow-paced life in the countryside, that you think I live a quiet, easy life every day. But what most people don't know is that I almost never take a full day of complete rest.

[00:00:38]Today is my rest day, but I woke up at 5:00 a.m. The sky was just turning light and the air was still cool, the perfect time to pick peaches.

[00:00:52]I promised my neighbor yesterday that I'd help her harvest peaches in her orchard this morning.

[00:01:18]I washed up quickly and headed over.

[00:01:35]The Peach Orchard is at the east end of the village, just a 5-minute bike ride away.

[00:01:47]It's nice and cool in the morning, so you don't get sunburned while picking.

[00:01:54]The peach trees were heavy with fruit, bright red and dotted with dew. They looked wonderful.

[00:02:05]As soon as I stepped in, the sweet fragrance of peaches wrapped around me.

[00:02:22]We make sure to grab the bigger, rounder ones first.

[00:02:27]My neighbor says the large peaches sell the quickest at the morning market.

[00:02:33]We pick them at about 80% ripeness.

[00:02:39]Firm enough not to bruise on the way and already nice and sweet.

[00:03:06]People might say it's silly to work on your day off, but I just can't stand sitting around doing nothing.

[00:03:15]a busy morning like this. This is what feels right to me.

[00:03:24]>> She's got about five moo of peach trees here, all tended by her and her husband.

[00:03:31]Right now, it's peak peach season around the countryside.

[00:03:36]Nice big ones go for about two yuana gin at the town market. That's around 30 US cents per pound.

[00:03:46]We load all the crates of ripe peaches onto the vehicle. Later, her husband will drive this truck to town.

[00:03:55]These peaches aren't only sold at street market.

[00:03:59]They also deliver batches to local fruit shops and small supermarkets.

[00:04:06]After we finished all the picking work, my neighbor stuffed a bag of nice big peaches for me to take home. She said I'd helped her work hard all morning, so I had to take some fresh peaches back to taste.

[00:04:28]When I got back home, I decided to whip up a simple breakfast for myself.

[00:05:01]I'm going to make a scallion pancake with my brand new electric frying pan.

[00:05:11]Many people skip breakfast when they're busy, but I never do.

[00:05:17]Breakfast fuels your body after an empty stomach all night long. If you skip it, you'll feel weak, dizzy, and easily lose focus by midm morning. Especially for folks like me who work non-stop out in the fields, a hearty morning meal keeps me energetic all morning long.

[00:05:40]No matter how busy your day gets, don't rush out on an empty stomach.

[00:05:54]Taking a little time to make and eat breakfast is the simplest way to take good care of yourself.

[00:06:02]Before I start eating my pancake, I make a cup of hot tea first.

[00:06:08]The warm tea will go perfectly with the scallion pancake later, cutting through the slight greasiness.

[00:06:20]I'm curious, what do you usually eat for breakfast in your country?

[00:06:38]Of course, I won't forget to make breakfast for my little dog, Lucky, either.

[00:06:47]I cut fresh carrot, chicken breast, and ham sausage into small pieces for him.

[00:06:58]Life feels different since I've kept Lucky at home. I live alone most of the time, so it's great to have a little companion around the yard.

[00:07:10]No matter how busy or tired I am from farmwork, he'll run over to greet me the second I step through the gate. It warms my heart a lot. Even on quiet days with nobody to talk to, I can play with him in the yard.

[00:07:29]It's a small happy routine to prepare separate breakfast for me and him every morning.

[00:07:38]I wonder if any of you feel this way, too. Even though resting is something we all deserve, stopping makes you anxious, like you're doing something wrong.

[00:07:50]It feels like a day only counts if I've put in real work and broken a sweat.

[00:07:56]Only then do I feel like the day was worth living.

[00:08:09]People of my generation seem to live our whole lives for some future, but rarely live for the present.

[00:08:17]When we were young, we always thought things would get better when the kids grew up. That we'd enjoy life when we had more money. The places I wanted to see at 20, I never got to visit at 30.

[00:08:33]The quiet life I dreamed of at 40, I'm still waiting for at 50.

[00:08:41]We always worry about the future, about having no money when we're old, about having no one to take care of us.

[00:08:51]But we rarely ask ourselves, "Am I happy right now?"

[00:08:56]Do you ever do this, too?

[00:08:59]You worry so much about a distant future that you forget to check in with the person you are right now.

[00:09:09]I took some spare loose jade beads and strung them into a bracelet myself.

[00:09:21]My coworker came over to find me. Even though today's my day off, I'm still in charge of recording peacework wages at this shoe factory.

[00:09:35]These are all finished shoe uppers sewn by the workers. There's another step, threading shoelaces.

[00:09:45]Most workers take batches of uppers back home to finish the shoelace threading in their spare time.

[00:09:53]My job is to carefully count and record how many pieces each person takes away, so wages can be calculated accurately later.

[00:10:04]Most of them don't have much to do at home on ordinary days. So, they won't choose to rest even when they're free.

[00:10:12]Instead of sitting idle at home, they'd rather take these shoe uppers back to Thread Laces to earn a little extra cash.

[00:10:21]Even though it's repetitive work with low daily pay, every small amount adds up over time.

[00:10:32]No one ever taught us how to enjoy life.

[00:10:36]No one told us that you get to stop working when you get old. We only knew that hard work was our duty.

[00:10:44]The more we worked, the easier life would be for our family.

[00:10:50]That idea has stayed with us for most of our lives. It's carved deep into our bones. It's not just me. Every elder in this village lives the same way.

[00:11:04]People in their 60s and 70s never just sit at home taking it easy as long as they can still walk and move. Those who are still strong go out to the fields every day planting wheat and corn, tending to their small plots of land.

[00:11:23]Those with weaker health stay home and run the household.

[00:11:29]They help their sons and daughters-in-law raise the grandkids, cooking, washing clothes, walking the kids to school.

[00:11:39]They earn whatever they can, always trying not to be a burden on their children.

[00:11:46]I often see elders in foreign countries online. When they reach retirement age, they completely set aside the burdens of life.

[00:11:57]They travel the world, develop their hobbies, and live entirely for themselves.

[00:12:04]But here in rural China, the word retirement barely exists.

[00:12:08]We don't have a set retirement age.

[00:12:12]There's no special date when you get to put down your tools for good.

[00:12:18]There's always more work to do in the fields, always more chores to do around the house.

[00:12:25]We work as long as we're able, and we stop when we can't work anymore. That's just the way we live, unspoken and understood by everyone.

[00:12:38]I'm planning to make Kungpow chicken for lunch today.

[00:12:42]First, I cut chicken breast into small cubes. Add seasonings and wear plastic gloves to mix them well to marinate the meat.

[00:13:06]Then, heat oil in the walk. Toss in the marinated chicken cubes and stir fry them until they turn golden brown.

[00:13:49]After that, I'll add carrots, peanuts, and special sauce to finish the classic homestyle Kungpow chicken.

[00:14:40]The tender chicken cubes mixed with fresh vegetables taste savory and slightly sweet. Really satisfying.

[00:14:50]After a busy morning of factory work and farm chores, this warm home meal heals all my tiredness.

[00:15:40]In the afternoon, I'm going to water the farmland behind my house.

[00:15:46]The wheat harvest has finished and we've planted corn seeds in the fields. Right now, the soil is dry, so watering is essential for the young corn to sprout well.

[00:15:59]Moving these long irrigation hoses alone is really tough work. So I asked my neighbor to come over and give me a hand.

[00:16:10]We unloaded all the hoses from the tricycle together, then stretched them all the way from the house to the farmland bit by bit.

[00:16:25]Living alone out in the countryside has never been easy for me. All the farm work, big and small, has to be dealt with by myself.

[00:16:46]The weather is scorching hot today.

[00:16:48]The sun blazes down on the open farmland and I'm sweating all over just standing outside.

[00:17:01]There's always more work to do in the fields, always more chores to do around the house. Whether it's rural farmers like me or factory workers, we're used to keeping busy every single day.

[00:17:17]If we stop working for a while, we'll start worrying about lost earnings or unfinished chores.

[00:17:25]We work as long as we're able, and we stop when we can't work anymore.

[00:17:32]A lot of people think this must be exhausting, that we must be miserable.

[00:17:39]But honestly, we don't feel like we're suffering. We've been busy our whole lives. We're used to it.

[00:18:13]I always think, what does enjoying yourself really mean?

[00:18:19]Is it lying idle all day without any work or worries? Is it traveling far and wide, spending money freely without restraint?

[00:18:32]Maybe happiness never has a single standard answer for everyone.

[00:19:02]It took me two whole hours to finish watering the field.

[00:19:11]I'm rolling up all the irrigation hoses and loading them onto the tricycle.

[00:19:26]All the hard work is done for today.

[00:19:29]I'll hop on the tricycle and ride back home slowly, ready to wash up and rest.

[00:20:21]It's cool outside now that dusk has fallen. Way more comfortable than the scorching afternoon.

[00:20:29]I brought my little dog, Lucky, out for a walk around the village streets.

[00:20:35]No farmwork to rush through, no heavy hoses to drag around anymore.

[00:20:45]I sat here resting with my dog and saw an elderly aunt sorting trash by the bins.

[00:20:52]She's already 80 years old this year.

[00:20:56]Every single day she comes out to pick up waste paper and plastic bottles to sell, she only earns a few yuan a day, around less than $1.5.

[00:21:10]Even so, she's totally content with this little income.

[00:21:17]>> I wonder what elderly people do after retirement in your country.

[00:21:30]I've worn myself out working all day long today. I don't have the energy to cook at home tonight.

[00:21:39]I hopped on my electric scooter and rode to the small restaurant on our village street for dinner.

[00:22:12]I ordered a bowl of noodle soup. It costs 8 yuan, around $1.1.

[00:22:23]>> Today's busy day is finally coming to an end.

[00:22:30]Speaking of all this, I have something to share with you guys.

[00:22:35]Tomorrow, I'm heading into the city to see my daughter's new apartment.

[00:22:42]She moved in over half a year ago and this will be my first time visiting.

[00:22:48]I'm also taking this trip as a chance to give myself a proper day off and try to slow down completely for once.

[00:23:00]Stay tuned with me and let's see if I can actually fully relax for an entire day.