Why I quit the Office - not the TV Show. Gen Z Confessions

Dear reader,

It’s January 23, 2021 and I only thought about quitting like five times today. The weather is gloomy, my office doesn’t really have a window, and life is just amazing… Is this what adulting is all about?

Every morning I wake up some two hours before work, just to spend an hour of that time commuting to the office, sharing the stale tram air with the other drained souls. At times I really wished I could have Expecto Patronum-ed my way out of that whole routine. And you might think that walking there was an option, sure, but it’s not really the best idea when it’s -12C outside, and the Sarajevo smog is tickling your lungs in all the wrong ways possible.

To make the long story shorter, most of the days I arrive at the office first, still sleepy and not really in the mood to do anything. The only issue is now I have to wait for some of my older coworkers to arrive and unlock the office for me - yay, time well spent. Fifteen minutes pass, and the coworker finally comes and unlocks the gates of hell. My work day can formally begin. But, you see, this is a cold kind of hell as there is no heating in the office. By the end of the work day I’m exhausted, cold and still an hour away from home, having to repeat that same commute.

The days pass, becoming indistinguishable from one another, rinse and repeat if you will. My mental health is declining faster than I expected, and I can’t quite put my finger on the solution. All my friends have similar problems, and I’m starting to notice a pattern there. Maybe we weren’t meant to spend 8 hours a day in the same room, sitting behind a table?

I start daydreaming about working from a different location, as I really didn’t mind the job itself, just the stiff tradition of working from the office. You see, my family owns this beautiful apartment that overlooks the snowy slopes of an olympic mountain near Sarajevo. If only I could go and work from there, or a coworking space maybe, really all I need is my laptop and an Internet connection. Ultimately I decided to quit the office, prioritizing what’s left of my mental health, and to seek a remote job that would enable me to work from anywhere I want.

All I can say is office work is really not for me, and if you’ve made it this far I assume we’re on the same page. I’d love for you to explore other options and find your work freedom!

Cheers reader!