I didn’t realize this was 1985

This morning I read an article titled:

Are you losing faith in business?

on LinkedIn that showed statistical evidence that Millennials and our younger Generation Z are more likely to be less committed to spending more than 2 years at a corporate job and more likely to focus their energies on less-conventional methods in the “gig economy” to become financially secure.  Not surprising, right?  Personally, I haven’t spent more than 3 years at any one job in the past and haven’t made long term plans to stay in the position I am in now.  Why? Because growth arises from the freedom to change.

Working in a department full of retirement-age coworkers makes glaringly obvious the differences between the baby-boomer generation an my own millennial generation.  It is incredible to me that someone could have worked the same job for 45 years and be reluctant to take the money and run (so to speak) into retirement at the first possible chance.  Don’t you WANT to enjoy your life free to do what you want with your time?  Haven’t you DONE enough to support this job?  Why WON’T you step aside and allow for someone new to step in?!  …I scream silently in my mind.

Really.  I’ve been working this job for 6 months and I feel exhausted just trying to keep up with the bullshit that has been laid down decades before me.  The barriers to how much you’re allowed to know and who you’re allowed to talk to about what.  This self-perpetuating structure of hierarchy and status gained by seniority (instead of education and achievement) makes me feel like I’m being drug behind a slow moving vehicle.  Like I feel off the wagon on Oregon trail and instead of helping me up my fellow travelers have strapped me to the back and told me not to move under threat that they might cut me loose and leave me there. 

Some days I can barely handle the stress of it all.  I wonder if anyone can relate.  A job that should be simple and rewarding is turned into a health hazard from the insanity of working with people who take themselves and their job way too seriously.  I’ve been diagnosed with tension headaches and referred to see a therapist.  It makes me depressed and I have no energy to do the things I enjoy outside of work.   I am a dedicated yoga practitioner, teacher, and daily meditator.  And even with all of this training and practice in relieving stress I am awake right now at 3:00am writing the blog post because I can’t sleep and can’t get the load roar of policy-drenched neurotic work chatter out of my head.

My only safety in this not-so-ideal situation is remaining an objective outsider to the work-place drama and continuing to post my resume to any job that looks remotely fitting.  And thank god that I’m starting a degree program in a month for Speech Pathology.

My advice to anyone experiencing this type of stress:

Take a deep breath whenever possible, count to 5, and find solace in creating meaningful relationships with people in the workplace that don’t make you feel crazy.