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 that lockdown and getting paid to stay at home and not work has created disconnect between going to work and getting money to live on for many people.

The money you live on is not incidental; it has to be earned.

If you stop appreciating this, there is a danger that employment starts to feel like an unnecessary burden, like rainy days or a long queue. It's a dangerous mindset as you spend a lot of time working, so that's a big chunk of the day to feel resentful and will lead to a miserable existence.

I thought I had written this post as I feel exactly the same.

I think it’s WFH, it’s not good for me as my routine has become much more relaxed before covid ever existed.

I did two months in the office as we had to go back in for hybrid working before this recent stay at home order came back in and I felt so much better. I was going back to the gym each morning, felt like I had a productive day at work, liked chatting with colleagues.

I tried telling work I was identifying as 70yo and retiring. They didn't go for it.

Ditto, but still got 10 years to retirement. Good at my job, work contentiously, but can think of so so so many things I’d rather be doing.

Me too OP, and I know I have a great job in a field I dreamed of working in as a kid. But I am now retraining in a holistic therapy which is a complete departure from what I do now.

@CinnamonJellyBeans

I think that lockdown and getting paid to stay at home and not work has created disconnect between going to work and getting money to live on for many people.

The money you live on is not incidental; it has to be earned.

If you stop appreciating this, there is a danger that employment starts to feel like an unnecessary burden, like rainy days or a long queue. It's a dangerous mindset as you spend a lot of time working, so that's a big chunk of the day to feel resentful and will lead to a miserable existence.

I agree with @CinnamonJellyBeans the thing that keeps me motivated is I need the money to survive so need to get my arse into gear. DH is in his office today and it’s important for him to have that connection. I’m full time wfh now but will once a month at least meet a colleague for a coffee etc it’s so hard though I miss the commaraderie (sorry not sure how to spell it) of the office those cliched ‘water cooler’ moments just even getting the train in!

I think Covid finished off my last drop of motivation.
I'm 54 and have worked in Special School for over 16 years.. we stayed open through all the lockdowns but with such ridiculous (and ever changing ) rules and restrictions that every last bit of fun was sucked out of school for the kids and for us.
Most of 'my' class have profound disabilities and having to do the national curriculum was always pretty pointless.. but the rest was great, enriching activities, swimming, horse riding, community outings, sensory stuff. Now we can't do that and it's groundhog day... the children are bored, we are bored.
I went down to part time, and am now looking after my baby grandson on my home days... I'm just as knackered but I enjoy those days FAR more because I'm free to set my own agenda (and start educating baby :) )
If I could afford to retire tomorrow I'd be off like a shot!
I keep looking at job ads but I'm now tied to baby care which makes it even trickier and have no skills to start my own business!

I'm 32 and feel the same. I'm sick of it and I have no way out at the moment. I actually don't mind what I do, I just don't want to work.

Absolutely same here, I'm just so fatigued by the repetitive grind, the different personalities and the meaningless faff.

My team has people who are obsessed with irrelevant detail but don't actually action anything or make any decisions.

I want to retire now in my thirties but can't afford to.

I worked within the office when I started then after two months we were sent home to work briefly back in at our choice now back at home again. My motivation is completely gone I just can’t be bothered with anything I have great plans to walk in the morning or lunchtime a gym class etc I can’t ge bothered it’s not me atall the malaise is stultifying

I worked in an office for 11 years, corporate firm, London. 8 look back now and liken it to time spent in prison. Long days in an airless room with the same people, same conversations, no natural light, didn't know what the weather was like outside. Leave at night, long train journey home, repeat.

When I finally left used to walk for miles just enjoying the silence around me, looking at the colour of the sky, I hadn't "heard" silence for so long.

My sympathies to all who are still stuck in this. Some people don't mind it, some just aren't cut out for office/business life but it's a path you get pushed down as you are told to be successful, work hard, earn money, etc.

It's not wrong to want freedom even if you don't particularly know what for!

I've started feeling like work is a prison, particularly when forced into pointless meetings with idiots. Ps. I'm sure they feel the same way about me!

I suspect that many, many people are suffering from low level depression brought on by the pandemic.

@Parsley1234 I feel the same. Each night I promise myself that I’ll get up and go for a 30min-hour long walk before work but once my alarm goes off, I just can’t be arsed.

I want to blame this on being in my first trimester still, but even though I feel like I’ve been pregnant for years, this has been going on longer than 9 weeks 😂.

I did do a lot more morning walks when it was warmer and brighter in the mornings, so maybe I’ve got lack of motivation from WFH mixed with SAD due to the dark and cold.

48 years old and exactly feeling this. Particularly this January.

I do think COVID has impacted it more. Usually we can plan holidays and events for the new year. Even if we do that now it’s all so uncertain the only certainty we have is work. Which is pretty depressing. And WFH also means barely leaving the house. It’s horrible.

I got bored of my job, I felt I’d reached my potential and there were no local openings for promotion or a change.

I’m on Mat leave and it’s nice to focus on DC without the stress of who is available for school runs, who can take a day off when DC sick etc.

@AlecTrevelyan006

I suspect that many, many people are suffering from low level depression brought on by the pandemic.

I agree. I am an old lady now and no longer work but can't find any joy in anything.

Everything just seems like too much effort, even things I used to enjoy.

Can't even raise enthusiasm for a holiday in case it doesn't happen.

I think that lockdown and getting paid to stay at home and not work has created disconnect between going to work and getting money to live on for many people
That might be the case for people who were furloughed but lots of us weren’t furloughed and still think work is a grind.

I also stand by the notion that most jobs are pointless and we’d all be more satisfied if we were doing things that actually needed doing, for the time they needed doing, and had a universal basic income. Absolutely none of my job or company is actually necessary to keep the world turning, however many “blue sky thinking run this up the flagpole let’s reset” meetings they come up with, so why are we all devoting the bulk of our lives to it?

Covid made my job hell and I think the same. I was born to be a nurse, I love it but I'm so utterly tired of it now I just want to never work again. I had to use all my annual leave due to various things throughout the year so it was never an actual break and now I know I wont get a break until April, I'm even more miserable!

YANBU OP.

I’ve been having dramatic thoughts about how I hate and resent working ultimately for
Someone else’s gain, yes I get paid but I’m not working for myself.

Work takes up too much of my time.

This is why people are expected to work in a workplace - because they can be kept under the watchful eye of someone as no one really wants to spend 80% of their week slaving for someone else.

Back in the day, hundreds of years ago, people did work “at home”, then with industrialisation, they were shifted to a workplace so they could be made to work harder.

We are just a bunch of slaves.

See - dramatic thoughts 😂

I fucking hate work.

I'm nearly at the end of a really long break (3 weeks) and I'm going to have to psych myself up to go back. Office job, but in the office. Working from work. I was fine with that all through the pandemic.
But now, my house is so tidy, I have done long walks listening to podcasts and audibles, I did a bit of yoga, I did some art, I have watched a few films, I'm just in a flow. My dc are teenagers so it's nothing to do with childcare but I've been getting on better with my 15 year old son since Christmas.

I wish I could just find some money in a tucked away bank account and think Oh I Forgot I had enough to live on without working!

Also when I used to get the ennui at work, I'd generally have a holiday to look forward to, or would start planning one.

Now holidays are a source of stress - we may or may not be skiing in France at Feb half term - but I know better than to look forward to it, French may not let us in, someone may catch covid ( and have minor cold symptoms ) so we won't be able to go.

I think that jobs have got more stressful in the last 10 or 15 years with a long hours culture expected. I think that a lot of people are burned out working long hours for years, always having to be switched on, having to work at top speed with no downtime at work to tidy a desk, sort queries.

I am 49 now and went through this in my early 30s. I had been 10 years in a corporate job, no travelling, didn't have dcs yet. I got redundancy, took a few months out and didn't feel like this again until I hit 45. I think the few months out and change of scenery helped. I had dcs at 37 and 39, so this time out helped as well.

Maybe could people look into taking a few months out, doing something different. Some firns keep a job open if you want to travel/study/care for a relative. Even 6 nonths out can rejuvenate you.

About 25-50 years out would rejuvenate me

Yes, me too. I want to retire too, aged 47!
I am really lazy and unmotivated at my job. Used to be great at it and work loads of unpaid overtime too, but just can't be bothered with more than the bare minimum any more. Covid has changed the role and made it less dynamic and more boring (much less face to face with clients) and I have put it down to being time to move on - but then I worry that I'll find taking on a new role where I do have to prove myself very stressful.