‘On the couch’ with Jasminda

DEAR Jasminda,

I find there are times during my working day when I lack energy or wonder at the futility of an office job. How do I keep my momentum going for the next 45 years?

Melissa W.

Dear Melissa,

I had some general ideas for you and was about to start composing my response when I came to the number at the end of your conundrum. If any of us looked at the sum total of our time doing anything we would be stressed.

There is a wonderful short story by David Eagleman called ‘Sum’, a fictitious account of the afterlife where everything in a lifetime is grouped.

In the story, the narrator describes how the average person would spend thirty years asleep, experience 27 hours of intense pain in one hit, and 15 months looking for lost items, amongst other things.

The point I am making with this reference is that you cannot envisage the next 45 years of your working life in an office in isolation and remain sane.

You need to break your working life down into achievable chunks, for example: If you can get through the next two hours, Marie from sales and marketing will bring in a vanilla slice after her weekly bakery run. The sugar hit that releases will give you about 30 minutes of adrenaline and positivity. If you can extend that to 45 minutes by adding a double-shot coffee, you will probably make it to the 2pm staff meeting where Julie from accounts will drone on about profit and loss stats for about half an hour.

If you can stretch the meeting to 3pm, there is every probability you will make it to knock-off time.

There is also absolutely no guarantee you will be in an office job for the next 45 years. In fact it is extremely unlikely.

Many people have up to seven career changes.

For all you know, in a decade from now you may have retrained to be a dietician or a paramedic or a spin class instructor.

In that final example, you will be so full of exercise-induced dopamine that you’ll be positively bursting with energy and enthusiasm.

So, Melissa, try to find the positives in your workday, when you leave work focus on enjoyable life activities that have nothing to do with being in the office, and, if you really do find your current job futile, I’d recommend looking at alternatives. You sound young enough to be in a position to do further education and training.

It would be a real shame if you looked back on your working life with regret.

Carpe diem,
Jasminda.