I Am More Than Just an Office Job
Working 9 to 5 seems to consume life, but it doesn’t have to.
Who am I? That’s the question I challenged my team at work to internalize in a recent seminar. But there was a catch — they couldn’t reference anything work-related in their answers. My team stared back at me with a sea of blank faces, as if the question didn’t make any sense. But slowly, we pulled little bits of information out of each other, and learned that George was a hobby farmer, Patrice was a musician, and so on. The question seemed simple, but it was amazing how hard it for everyone, myself included, to separate themselves from their work-identities.
For so many people, the answer to the question ‘who am I?’ revolves around work. You respond, with a prestigious job title, field of work, or an interesting story about your work itself. But why do we so strongly link our identity to our job? And why is it so hard to separate work-life from our identities?
Well it’s pretty simple really. Our culture — in the U.S. in particular — revolves around work. We spend a lot of time at work. We tie our self-worth to our income and success. We pour our time, energy, and sometimes our hearts into our work. We celebrate promotions and brag about not getting enough sleep because we have worked so hard.
When we meet new people, a lot of the questions we ask are centered around work: what do you do for work? Do you enjoy your work? Do you travel for work? Even outside of work, all we can seem to do is talk about the daily grind at work.
As a business professional, I can relate. I spend a lot of time in the office, and I’m proud of what I do. But I am more than just a business professional.
I am a daughter, I am a painter, I am a writer, I am a sister, I am a friend, I am an ally, I am a mediocre plant enthusiast, I am an art lover, I am creative, I am kind, I am sarcastic, I am a designer, I’m a tea enthusiast, and after all of that, I am also a business professional. I am not just a business professional, and I am defined as far more than my day job.
This was a realization that I came to recently when it became clear that my days had been spent living and breathing work. I would wake up to go to work, actually work, drive home form work, and wind down from work by telling my family about my day at work. Finally, I would go to bed at a reasonable hour, just to get up and repeat the same routine. This monotonous life made the days and months blur together as if my life were one big blob of grey office buildings and computer screens.
There was nothing interesting about my life anymore. There was nothing dynamic about my personality. I lived in dress pants and inhaled caffeine to get by.
People would ask me “what have you been up to lately?” And I didn’t have an answer. I would respond with something generic, like: “Oh you know, just work, same old story.” I had strayed so far from any hobbies or passions that I had officially become boring at the ripe old age of twenty-six.
And finally, there came a time when life had me asking one question: who am I?
Am I really just a business professional? Why am I always working? Why am I thinking about work when I’m at home? Who could I be if I spent time pursuing things that would make me happy?
My sad realization, was that I didn’t feel like there was room in my schedule for anything but work. That was a mindset that I needed to change. So I started slowly re-discovering things that I’ve always loved, but believed I didn’t have time for.
I started reading again, even just a chapter a week to start. I started to listen to entertaining podcasts. I set up a folding table in my tiny room to paint at. Before I knew it, I had re-discovered my creativity and love for art. The more creative I became, the more I made time for creative projects that were important to me. I realized that I had had time to be creative all along. I had tied myself down by focusing all of my energy on my day job, leaving nothing for the other parts of myself. Once I made a conscious decision to allow room for creativity, I was able to prioritize that facet of my life.
So make time for the other sides of yourself. Take the time to sit down and paint. Skip the after-work networking party and grab dinner with friends instead. Start to re-kindle the parts of yourself that have been suppressed or ignored because of work for so long. Remember that you can have a 9 to 5 and have hobbies on the side. It’s all about balance. And when you find that balance, you make time for the parts of your life that are important to you.
So the next time someone asks me about myself, I will be able to say, I am a business professional, but I am also so much more.
The Mini Post-Grad Survival Guide
A 5-day email course with tips on budgeting, investing, and productivity for 20-somethings. Sign up for free.
