Part 6 How to Survive Work

I’m lonely.Part-6-HTSW.mp3 I know, you just got the urge to do click off, repelled by this shocking disclosure of human frailty. Lonely means loser right? You’re thinking, I hope he doesn’t put his hopes in internet dating anytime soon because that is not a good look, mate. I realise that this is something of a taboo to admit to the humble state of loneliness, but try to stay with me in this embarrassing moment because there is a point we need to get to and it’s called love. A bearded bloke called Freud neatly defined the basic facts of life, saying that we are all dependent on other people for survival, we are not the centre of the entire universe and we all die. Don’t panic, we’re not doing death rather the issue of dependency and our national interest in what has become known as “social capital”. For the non-capitalists amongst you that means relationships-with-other-people. I’m not sure that we need reminding of the fact that we are important to each other, particularly in a recession, but it’s a bit embarrassing admitting that I need you. Even worse, needing the people that you work with to make your job bearable. Yuck. There is something deeply anti-relationship in our reactions to threat, a very real urge to run for the hills like a red neck. Adrenaline shoots through our veins and fists start forming. Office doors close and people stop saying hello next in the staff kitchen. Suddenly you’re wearing a checked shirt and driving a truck to work. Most of this running away though is internal, removing us from contact with others. Now the corporate war has started, many of us are running into psychic bunkers and firmly intend to sit it out until the white flag goes up. This is planet lala and its also unlikely to work. Firstly, you really will run out of food. And secondly you will start to go a bit crazy and start collecting your own toe nail clippings. Left on our own we start to lose our sense of who we are and slip down the evolutionary scale. Humanity lost and replaced by cave dwellers. The psychic fact of life is that we are all dependent on each other to survive life and work. Its what makes us human. So if you’re struggling to survive work this week and you feel like packing your psychic bags, don’t. Instead, fess up to being lonely, take the risk and tell someone that you need their help. Although it might feel extraordinarily difficult to face up to the pain of loneliness, that is a good deal if you think about it. Humbling human disclosure for the real world thumping heart stuff of love. Humanity restored. Tick. Surviving Work offers free and confidential resources for people who want to become more resilient either in or out of work. We have just set up the Surviving Work Library, a free resource by the real experts, people like yourself who are actually surviving work. There are podcasts, stories and mercifully short guides on how to survive work. All totally and utterly free and anonymous. We are not purveyors of magic solutions. Nor do we promise to make you thinner or richer. But we will help you survive work.