Privilege of the office worker
We, adults, often take ourselves too seriously. We often have the perception that we and what we do are central to the world around us. This is most visible in the workplace, especially in the office environment. We are playing the game of ”Making the world a better place” too seriously. Everything matters, every detail. We need to look all professional, go to serious meetings, be busy (if we are not busy, we are not serious about making an impact), deliver outstanding results, whatever it means, bring value to the business, aka help the company make more money. Of course, this is all because we care about the customers. Oh yes, we are customer-obsessed in fact.
Additionally, we have to be passionate about what we do. Why do we even do what we do if we are not passionate? To prove our passion and dedication to our gods, aka employer, we work while on vacation and when we put your children to sleep.
But the most important, we should be stressed. We should be stressed (not in particular order) about not meeting deadlines, not delivering KPIs, or god forbid not knowing our KPIs, stressed about another reorganization, poor collaboration, incompetent colleagues, unfinished projects, budget cuts, downsizing, being late to a meeting because commuter train broke, not getting promotion or salary increase (again!) even though we worked hard, having new manager, having old manager, not having enough time to think, not catching up with all that AI hype, not being able to grow in our role, our being pushed to grow too fast, not bringing enough value, and the list goes on. Just writing this makes my heart rate go higher.
If we are not stressed about all that, the chance that others in our team are. We are exposed to this stress most of our awake time, 5 days a week. And this virus is contentious. It spreads even here in Sweden, in the country of six weeks of vacation and frequent coffee brakes.
With this virus, it’s hard to be calm, think clearly, and be present. It’s hard to enjoy life. Often, we perceive our work and our contribution as more important and more valuable than it actually is. It seems that we forget that most office workers are not saving lives or working on the front line between life and death. It’s a privilege that we have, but don’t use. It’s hard not to be stressed when everyone around you is. It can be a choice, however. A few things that help me to make this choice when I refuse to be constantly stressed:
10-15 minutes of meditation in the middle of the day. If I can find time for a toilet break and lunch, I can find time for meditation. It is that important for our body and brain. I can literally take myself out of the situation and bring my attention to my body and mind. This might help resetting ”monkey brain” and returning to work more calm. Or it might not, at first. In any case, sitting quietly alone slows me down and helps me to be less reactive. The good starting point for me was the Headspace app, later I did not need it.
Will I remember this in 5 years? - A lot of things I worry about now I won’t even recall in 5 years, and they won’t have any impact on my life, so why should I even bother throwing my limited time and energy into them?
”Cosmic Insignificance Therapy” from the book Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Pretty much it boils down to the fact that we are not the center of the universe, and in a grand scheme of things, from a cosmic perspective, most of the people will not make a dent in the world. There are just a few people like Mozart or Einstein, and from a human history perspective, for the majority of us, whatever we do soon will disappear or will be forgotten. It might sound depressing, but it could also be liberating. When we don’t hold ourselves to such a high standard, we can free ourselves to do what actually matters to us, whether it’s doing our job well without stressing, writing a novel (or a blog!) for the joy of it, or reading to a child during bedtime.
The last point, in particular, allows me not to take myself too serious and experiment in life even if I feel silly and awkward, whether learning a new language or expressing my thoughts. By the end of the day, as my older daughter says, ” Who cares?” Even if nothing matters, life just goes on and we make a choice to experience it and enjoy.