It’s Just a Job.

You are not defined by your job, you don’t live to perform. A quick wake up call for those who take their work to heart.

Tl;dr > Conclusion and three tips to get through the week

We spend a great deal of our life at work, probably somewhere close to a third of our lifetime. That statistic is not factoring in the time we spend thinking about our jobs. Worrying about what we did or didn’t do, checking our email on a Sunday morning, anxious about receiving a notification that starts with “I know it’s your time off / the weekend / late at night, but…”.

The truth is, most of us wouldn’t be working if we didn’t have to.

With the advent of smartphones, those dreadful devices that have turned all of us into “always on” bots, work is never that far away. Always connected, always on. Taking the time preparing, thinking and agonising about work, I believe we actually spend close to 50% of our adult lives working. No wonder many of us, especially men, identify ourselves with our jobs.

But I don’t think we are our jobs.

It doesn’t matter what you do for a living. Sure, it may help you break the ice in a bar or at a high school reunion, but there’s so much more to you than what you do to earn a check. And while some of us are fortunate enough to call their passion their work, most of us wouldn’t be working if we didn’t have to. This article is written for those of us who feel stuck, anxious or downright miserable about their jobs.

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Let’s talk about you.

You’ve got dreams: Places you want to visit, things to check off your bucket list. Maybe you’re someone who loves to cook, or you’re blessed with green fingers and a collection of plants to show for. Are you an avid reader, or someone who loves to attend concerts? What about your affinity for fashion, or your knowledge about craft beers?

The thing is:
Your job is merely a must-do to pay for things and experiences.

Whenever I meet someone for the first time, I never ask about their job. Boring! What do I care that you work for a hedge fund, or that you optimise SEO copy for webshops? Tell me something about you! Let’s talk about the things that inspire you, the causes you deeply care about. What was the last book you read? Seen any good arthouse movies lately?

Your job is merely a must-do to pay for things and experiences.

Just a few days ago, a friend of mine sighed “Surely there must be more to life than work?!” I told her there definitely is. In fact, I argued work is just a small part of my life. It’s no longer my focus, I no longer take it with me to bed or on vacation. She wasn’t buying it. How could I possibly treat my work, with all its demands and expectations, as if it were just a tiny part of my life?

I told her that I spend my lunch breaks, even if just for 10 minutes, planning little trips. More than often money is tight, so a trip may well just be a visit to the local zoo, or simply taking the train to a village nearby I’ve never been before. And when I get home, I try allocating a bit of my free time to some of my hobbies.

Whether I’m trying a new recipe or I pick up that book I’ve been meaning to read for months now — I do it. I leave work at the office and all that matters right then and there is that little bit of me time.

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Conclusion

Look, my way of living may not be for you. I’m no longer ambitious, but I also don’t loathe my job. I discovered at a fairly young age that I don’t want my life to revolve around work. Call me lazy, that’s fine. I don’t need to impress you.
Back to you: If you find yourself stressing out before work, at work, and after work, please find a quiet space and tell yourself: It’s just a job.

You don’t have to impress anyone. You are just fine as you are.

Here are some tips for you to get through the week, may they serve you well:

1. Start seeing your job as a recurring transaction: You deliver work and for that, you get paid. There’s nothing more to it and that is just fine!
2. Start taking moments for yourself: Whether it’s a lunch break away from colleagues or some after-work downtime, you deserve it.
3. Start planning things to look forward to: Go to the woods, visit a local museum, take the train to a small town nearby. Whatever: Live!