> If you had nothing positive outside of work

Rather than having nothing positive, I think it's having negatives that they can't otherwise control.

> Rather than having nothing positive, I think it's having negatives that they can't otherwise control.

Not OP, but this critique revolves mostly around semantics and I don't find it useful or accurate. If, big if, they had something positive to look up to outside of work, they'd be less inclined to put all their energy into work. That'd be the case even with multiple negatives they couldn't control. In other words, it's the total lack of any and all upside outside of work rather than the existence of downsides that makes people feel powerless and depressed.

I make the distinction from a period of my own life. I also avoided going home despite having many positives because particular uncontrollable negatives held me back. I had many reasons to want to go back, but damn if I had to face the negatives.

‘Emotionally uninhabitable’ is a very useful phrase I’ve never encountered before