THE DAILY GRIND

Connor Mills

Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living, but unlike the undeniable saint that is Dolly unfortunately now days that doesn’t seem to cut it, the idea of a constant grind culture is everywhere, through muscle bound pocket sized fitness guru’s telling you how to fit Pilates in between zoom calls after waking up to a 5:00am Ice bath as every ounce of joy is ripped from your morning routine, too the idea if you’re not the literal backbone of your work environment then what are you doing? Add into the mix, side hustles, social gatherings, commutes, sports teams, book clubs, all are a competition to be painstakingly climbed to be at peak normalcy. Don’t forget to meditate as well just to even it out.

In the LGBTQIA+ community this can be felt so clearly whether it be the boss asking can you stay on an extra hour as they’ve kids to get home too, or the guilt we place on ourselves to go above and beyond in order to bargain against our own existence. The Mental Health Foundation states that half of LGBTQIA people had experienced depression with Three in Five experiencing anxiety, with burnout being a prevalent contributor to both, yet through my own personal experience whenever feelings of ill mental health appear my go too is to bury myself in work or to seek thrills, both of which can be more detrimental as opposed to being the salve you wish they were. The pressure can be felt from all angles, from this preconceived notion that as a community were able to turn our hands at restoring and upholstering a chair before we’d ever consider sitting comfortably in it, that the idea of constantly doing has become such a norm that a suggestion to the opposite is filled with guilt and questioning.

After the new year I heard about the term “Silent Quitting” and while I assumed this was a term for walking out of work in quiet protest what it actually meant was when you’ve worked your agreed upon work hours, you don’t undertake any additional roles, that you don’t undertake any form of communication be it email, WhatsApp, whatever it may be after this now of course for everyone this will have varying degrees of success and then when you bring in the idea of being on call it can get a little messy, especially if you run your own business, but this idea where there might now be a lean towards not spending every second of everyday making sure every atom is meeting someone else’s standards, its a breath of fresh air.

From my own personal experience my typical day would be work until the evening, walk home, general life things such as cleaning and eating and then to work on my own business until depending on the commissions or releases I had that week either crawl into bed at an unreasonable hour or a very unreasonable hour, rinse and repeat at least five days a week. Not considering burnout would affect me and that I wasn’t that busy compared I didn’t see this as a problem, cut to Christmas week recently where I had taken on some additional commission work, and the retail side of my business had really ramped up, my day job is also in retail with managerial duties so as you can imagine Christmas is something to be said in hushed cursed whispers as opposed to jolly fireside singalongs, I say now in embarrassment what I said before with pride but when I added it up afterwards Monday to Friday that week alone I worked a total of 84 hours (not including work related communication) and that was pretty similar for every week in December, so come Christmas eve when I finally stepped into a social setting, I was fine one second, and an actual mess the next and after a little “menty b” I saw the damage that it could cause.

So the joyous terms of “Silent Quitting” appealed greatly to me and while not always achievable I do find it’s like everything, if it’s something you would like to achieve then try your best, so what if Susan in HR doesn’t get an instant reply until the morning, so what you don’t do an extra 30 mins cardio in the gym in order to have “crushing it” bragging rights, so what you didn’t stay up much later than intended to get a few chapters ahead than the rest of the book club, the main thing you should be staying on top of and going above and beyond in is looking after yourself. The only real way to avoid crying in your partners sisters girlfriend’s car by 8:00pm Christmas eve if you ask me.

Tranquil Tip:

This issues tranquil tip is Cooper, and while not a tip as such, try not to be filled with absolute joy at this charming, nosey, little gentleman, Coop came into my life recently after my partners sister mentioned she might want to take him on having heard he might need a new home, we instantly stepped up after seeing his fuzzy bap doing bunny hops of excitement while at D&G Luxurious V.I.Pet Hotel a fantastic doggy day-care and hotel service in Tyrone. They were amazing in helping us with the rehoming process and I couldn’t recommend them fast enough. (especially the “pup-dates” while your furry family isn’t by your side)