Many people spend most of their waking hours at work. Unfortunately, many people spend these hours hoping for the day to be over, in some cases literally watching the clock. This experience of counting time whilst at work with dread and at times despair is quite familiar to me. I most certainly have experienced it myself. I am also honoured to hear the experiences of others. Over the years I have had countless talks in my office, my living room, coffee shops as well as over the phone and through email. Many women are not living their best lives at work. In fact, for some, work has become living nightmares. In my experience misery at work is quite common.
We fall for the fallacy of common versus normal so many times. Where we believe that because it happens to so many people it is normal and therefore, we should accept our experience as the only reality. This false belief results in many women living their worst lives at work; just trying their best to continue providing for their loved ones. What we many times do not realise is that our acceptance comes at a high cost to ourselves, our families, and our communities.
Take time and look around your community and you will see the employee we described above, battling and most times failing to be a present parent, a present spouse/partner, a present sibling, a present adult child, or a present friend. Being present referred to above speaks of giving your best in that moment whatever that moment may require.
The different parts of our lives take from us and give to us in different ways. Some of these ways are restorative, healing and enabling growth, whilst others are toxic, destructive and leads to stagnation. Our work life is no different, it takes and gives in both ways. The experiences described in the beginning of this post come primarily from toxic and destructive exchanges.
If this resonates with you and it speaks to parts of your work story, then we hope you will join the mission as we re-define the workspace as a space of growth and presence.
Through intentional actions at individual level, we can change some of these exchanges and create a work experience that enables growth in you as a primary outcome and growth in others as a wonderful by-product. We invite you to actively engage with our post and to try out the actions we propose as part of a movement of women committed to changing their work experiences from counting the time to making the time count.
Stay committed to your growth.
Till the next post …
Thank you for writing about this Geraldine. It was a beautiful read and absolute truth regarding having a miserable time at work. I’m a social work graduate and because my family is important for me and I want us to be together, I travel with my husband where he finds work . And, as a result I’ve declined several job offers in other towns, just so we could be together. I don’t regret making that decision at all, but I sometimes think that I may be lacking behind professionally, because I’m not practicing my profession. As I’m not finding employment in the towns we travel to.
However, after reading this article. I wonder if I even want to work in an official setting, considering how miserable people sometimes/ most of the time can be at work and how they wish hours could fly so they can make their way home. I definitely would not want to work in a setting that is draining me emotionally or otherwise, that I wish hours away.
I am however hopeful that I will find employment someday, whether through an agency or through my own project. And, for that day, I look forward to reading more of your articles so I can learn to embrace growth and presence rather than creating or being in a toxic and destructive environment.
I look forward to learn and being present in this journey with you.
Hi Macci
Thank you for the comment. I love that you took the time to read and I love that you get to live life on your terms and that you are making decisions that gives you life.
I look forward to embark on this journey with you. I am excited that you will discover that you can truly make time count at the workplace.
By the way, great active listening that you demonstrated here. Giving back the words you hear or in this case read. Definitely an awesome skill for life and the workplace.
Hi Gabriel
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. Those actions were intentional.
Your observation is spot on. No decision is a decision. And yes yes yes to highlighting how not benefiting from an environment and not adding value to an environment can actually result in a contamination of the environment.
Your thinking and reasoning guarantees that you will find the posts that follow interesting as well.
I look forward to our journey on this platform.
Thank you for your feedback. It’s lovely 🙂
Brilliant article, im particular am drawn to the portion of Intentional actions, as for one not to not make a decision one is actually making a decision, and to remain in an environment that is not conducive is not beneficial to one, but rather contagious to those around you and thus contamination the whole environment as a whole..
am looking forward to that witch follows after this interesting read…