How to get stuck at a 9 to 5 office job and let fear take over your life
“I am never gonna work in HR, I ‘m never gonna work a 9 to 5 office job and I’m definitely not gonna work in the financial sector.”
– me, 18 years old, not knowing any better
And look at me now. Working a 9 to 7 office job at the HR department of an insurance company. I can’t say I’m not proud of what I’m doing and have done. Working for the number 1 insurance company of the world, which is making billions of profit every year and me being at a high-level position is definitely not something I ever expected and is not to be underestimated. It was a conscious choice. If I wanted to get into L&D, every job requirement was to have “8-10 years of experience” or being OK with being massively underpaid. What I had was 1.5 years of experience and no desire to be underpaid. So when my current company offered me a job in L&D, because they needed someone with digital skills, the timing couldn’t have been better. But is was supposed to be an “in-between” to get to where I wanted to be: somewhere exciting & meaningful.
Now we’re 1.5 years later and although I don’t regret anything, I have seen what comfortable office life can do to you and more. Therefore, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to get stuck at a 9 to 5 office job and let fear take over your life.
- Get to the point where the most important discussion of your day was which kind of coffee at the office is the best one.
- Be afraid of ending up with no job, no money and homeless, even though you have enough money on your bank account to live easily without an income for a year.
- Agree that having 140 e-mails after a one-week-holiday isn’t so bad.
- Think “ok maybe it’s not my dream job, but it’s so safe and comfortable here” at least 2 times a week.
- Don’t leave your house except for going to work, groceries or other mandatory responsible stuff. You’re way too tired to do anything else anyway.
- Using the stairs instead of the elevator to the 1st floor is your new idea of exercising. Or if that doesn’t work, get a gym membership, go twice and then decide you have too much work to go to the gym.
- The most exciting thing that happened this month? Either the fire alarm exercise or the new color on the coffee cups. Having both in the same month is like living on the edge.
- Believe managers when they say that this position is the best you’ll ever get.
If you managed to do all this and are happy: congratulations and welcome to the rest of your life!
But if you managed to do all this and are getting panic attacks about being stuck at this desk for the rest of your life: I can only encourage you to go after what you want and follow your dreams – whatever they may be!
