AIBU to have ‘gone off’ working?

[haribofiend]

Okay so I realise I am unreasonable!

But does anyone else feel the same?

I’m not a lazy person, have always worked v.hard, too hard at times, if anything!

But lately (since Covid / lockdown, but maybe it’s just a coincidence) I’m so fed up of it. I’m not in the wrong job - I like my work well enough… but not as much as I’d like leisure time I find I’m wistfully looking forward to retirement, and I’m only 34!!

I’m a bit shocked at myself tbh. Is it just me who’s had this change of heart lately and needs a big old boot up the bum?

I think WFH has revealed what a joke most jobs are – when you remove the circuses and the pizzazz distraction of gossip, lunch, tea rounds, perks, office birthdays and cake, canteens, etc, all that’s left is pointlessness. Which doesn’t mean I want to go back to the office: hours spent commuting to do the thing I now know is pointless, when the smoke and mirrors of the occasional Colin the Caterpillar has been revealed? Nah.

Love, love, love this!

@hamstersarse

There is also a strange dichotomy emerging in that I hate wfh but I also cba going into the office

I have to go to the office on Thursday and genuinely just cannot be bothered, yet I also cannot be bothered to sit at my home desk either.

I used to be easily pleased

It's that Sunday evening feeling.

@Wreath21

There is a huge, growing problem with regard to 'work' which needs addressing. It's not remotely unreasonable of so many people to hate their jobs when their jobs are awful (do read David Graeber for a better understanding of this). Part of it is that so many jobs which are necessary, and either fulfilling/interesting in themselves or the sort of thing that isn't enjoyable to do but gives satisfaction from knowing that your work has made someone else's life demonstrably better, are atrociously paid and the people who do them treated with contempt. I can't remember the exact quote or who said it (might have been someone like Eldridge Cleaver or Malcolm X) but it was along the lines of: there are jobs that need doing but the ruling class don't want to pay for them to be done. It was about jobs like repairing infrastructure in poor areas, running youth groups and playgroups etc as opposed to sitting in an office doing nothing particularly relevant other than generating money for your bosses.

This is why we need UBI - it would get rid of a lot of the utterly pointless jobs which effectively waste energy and resources.

Yes, it's a lack of fulfillment when your job is a bit pointless or unrewarding (even if you don't dislike your job per se). That's when you find yourself unmotivated.

As you say the more important and rewarding jobs in terms of fulfilment tend to be poorly paid, particularly the community type ones, so we stay in drudgery jobs for better pay and become listless doing them.

Just returned from maternity leave and literally wondering why I even bothered going back. Cba at alllllllllllllllll.

As you say the more important and rewarding jobs in terms of fulfilment tend to be poorly paid, particularly the community type ones, so we stay in drudgery jobs for better pay and become listless doing them

This really resonates with me. The best job I've ever had was being a shelter hand at my local animal shelter, when I was 19. I spent my days walking the dogs, picking up poo, administering meds, brushing the cats etc. I loved every minute of it. I played with puppies on my break.

Of course it was dreadfully paid. I finished uni and then went off and got a "real" job that I hated, because I needed more money to be able to pay my bills.

In the last week two people in my team have resigned to take early retirement (at 49) and to take a 6 month break from work.

Yep I can't be arsed with work either, I'm over here languishing away, dreaming about making trousers in my non-existent sewing room.

Working from home makes it hard to be motivated because I'm constantly surrounded by my home life, and my big to-do list of boring shite like booking a dentist appointment and ordering new knives. I don't want to do life admin and I don't want to work. I just want to eat cheese and read my books!

Me 100% since the pandemic and lockdowns

I've also been dreaming of retraining as a forest school leader or something similarly outdoorsy. I don't feel meh when I'm outside. I just don't want to be chained to my screen all day long. Maybe it's the lack of sunlight from being huddled in the spare room all day!

I just want to sit and watch dramas on tv all day and have me time, cant be bothered, glad its not just me

Thank goodness for this thread. So much resonating. Especially the comments about not being bothered to work from home yet cba to go into the office either. Only another 25 years or so to go here...

Me too! I have been saying for years "If there's one thing worse than working, it's not working" but I was never happier than when I was furloughed for 6 weeks, I could happily give up tomorrow if I could afford it.

Bit pissed off if I have to do ironing in my own time. It should be done during departmental meetings with too many attendees for everyone's video to be viewable. Camera off is acceptable, as is joining by phone. A colleague glossed all her woodwork over a course of such meetings. The best I've managed is joining by phone and heading out to get a sausage roll.

I just want to eat cheese and read my books!

Me too!

I take off old nail varnish and paint my nails during our team meeting

Might think of some other stuff I could do... Ironing sounds appealing.

Oh yes, very much so, I just can't be bothered!

I highly recommend ironing in those large team meetings (the update type ones where the entire 100+ person department is invited). The weird thing is it actually makes you MORE focused and more likely to actually listen to what is being said, because you can't scroll Mumsnet/WhatsApp/Facebook etc on your phone. Win win.

This resonates.

I don't dislike my job, in fact I really feel like I am in the right long term job more than ever before. I'm doing well, have been promoted during covid and there is potential for another step up but by God it is hard to motivate myself. I'm still doing the work but it is taking forever because I procrastinate, and get distracted. Then I end up having to work late to make it up.

It isn't just work either I am struggling to plan anything at the weekend too. We used to be really busy and out all the time but now often find ourselves sitting on the sofa unable to think of anything to do or anywhere to go. My hobby that I love is the same, I can't plan/organise myself and procrastinate and make excuses so I never book competitions or outings.

I am fed up but can't seem to change!

Wow, 97% of over 800 of you agree! That’s incredible! So great to know we’re not alone in this- in fact looks like may be in the firm majority.

Have only skim read, will read through all the posts properly, but so glad that others have gained from this thread too and we can support each other

Whoever said it just feels surreal being in front of a screen for 8 hours a day is absolutely spot on

I get jarring moments of clarity (?) throughout the day of ‘what the hell am I doing sitting here?!?’

It’s most disturbing

Just logged off, having spent much of the evening at my desk catching up on the work I should have done during the day but didn't because I was busy scrolling the internet/doing housework.

It's like going back to being a student...I was a terrible procrastinator back then and I thought I had left those days behind, but apparently not!

It's not surprising given how we are brought up to believe a career is the dream. It's just a means to pay for the good stuff, not an end in its own right.

I've been wobbly during all lockdowns with being trapped in a small room with just a laptop screen, but I've always pulled it out the bag.

But since November my motivation is at the lowest it's ever been. I just really, really can't bring myself to focus and I feel really detached from it all. It's all bullshit and I just cannot be arsed with it.

I thought I just needed a break as I've worked through most of my annual leave over the last two years, but returning after Christmas hasn't really helped.

I've also become really anxious, which really isn't like me. When I see an email appear in my inbox, I start to panic and daren't check. I really have to take an hour or so to build up the courage to open it.

I think I need a new start elsewhere, but I don't want to be starting a new job in my current mindset.

I’m sick to death of working from home.
However I love not commuting, listing to colleagues moaning about the lives etc
But I miss my colleagues and tell myself every week that I’m going to go into the office a couple of times a week. Yet when those days arrive I can’t be bothered to go into the office and so stay at home.!!

I quit late 2020 to work part time self employed. I never regret it ever ever. It's not easy to leave a stable salary but it's worth it for me.
I work my own hours, spend time with my family, run, read, chill. Life is too short to waste it on hours of work.