[andscoop]

No need to be sorry. I don't think many here will be envious of your point of view.

As for why work life balance is seen as something to be strived for, there might be several reasons.

Most workers here are thought workers, which means productivity is incredibly hard to measure. Along with this, the general consensus seems to be that we have limited number of hours of true productivity per day with this sort of work. (Idk if the science is there to back it up, but it is the consensus). So by this logic working 70 hour weeks has a cost.

Another reason is that an hour at work takes an hour from society as a whole. Another hour at work is an hour not being a husband, not raising kids, not spending money at bars with friends, not shopping (to the benfit of the economy) not cooking or other hobbies which develop well rounded citizens.

Also maybe to the larger point, why? Why give your life (50hpw+ consistently) to an employer if it's not needed and you don't love it? There is a whole world out there and you already give an majority size chunk of you life to work and sleep, what are you going to do with the rest?