International Courant
Bernard Meyer lives along with his spouse and two daughters in Lithuania.
Bernard Meyer
Bernard Meyer moved to Lithuania from the US over a decade in the past. He says dwelling within the nation taught him an essential life lesson: how you can create a greater work-life steadiness.
Lithuania, positioned in northeastern Europe, was named the happiest nation on the earth for younger folks in 2024. World Happiness Reportand the nineteenth happiest nation general.
After rising up in Miami and attending school in Indiana, Meyer moved completely to Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, in 2012, the place he nonetheless lives along with his spouse and two daughters.
The 39-year-old, senior communications and inventive director at advertising automation platform Omnisend, says he has seen a stark distinction between the work tradition within the US and Lithuania, the place folks take pleasure in a extra “relaxed” and “calm tempo of life”.
“I believe work-life steadiness is one thing that everybody has management over,” Meyer advised CNBC Make It in an interview.
“So at 5 or 6 p.m. folks depart and chill on the bar. In the event that they’re comparatively younger, or if they’ve children, they take the youngsters and go for a stroll across the metropolis.”
“It is a feeling that you may actually take pleasure in life now, whilst you’re nonetheless younger, whilst you’re nonetheless ready. I believe that is one thing that they (People) can study to understand,” Meyer added.
‘Discover ways to…have extra of a life outdoors of labor’
People are identified for being obsessive about work, which may end up in a tradition of overwork and burnout. For comparability, Lithuania ranks eleventh among the many greatest nations for work-life steadiness in 2021in keeping with the OECD.
“I am personally not in opposition to 25-year-olds or folks underneath 30 sitting at work 12 hours a day, as a result of that is a interval the place you are able to do that. However when you get previous that stage, you need to learn to have a bit bit extra of a life outdoors of labor,” Meyer stated.
“When you’ve got a household, your loved ones might be crucial factor. You are working in a spot the place in 5 to 10 years, once you’re gone, no one cares that you simply had been there. Your loved ones does,” he added.
Nature – and holidays – are essential
Meyer famous that folks in Vilnius prefer to chill out after work due to town’s abundance of “inexperienced areas” and their walkability.
After work, “persons are relaxed… they stroll by means of the streets, like within the Outdated City, they usually stroll round, or journey a scooter, or simply sit in a restaurant,” he stated.
“Right here they grew up in an setting the place nature is essential,” he added. “They grew up appreciating nature, so now they’ve a metropolis that could be very nature-oriented. Which means they’ve a cultural, important need to be with nature, they usually discover it right here, in order that makes them joyful.”
One other essential distinction he notices between Lithuania and the US is the way in which folks take into consideration holidays.
“I bear in mind by no means occurring trip within the US and I did not know anybody who went on trip voluntarily,” Meyer stated.
These days, nonetheless, he advises his group at Omnisend in opposition to engaged on weekends or throughout holidays.
“One factor I inform them, which I believe could be very European, is that we do not work within the emergency room of the hospital. There are fires, however there are at all times fires, that does not imply you need to hand over your trip,” he stated.
