Changed my mind about telling my coworkers I'm okay

For like 2 years straight I told everyone at my office in Austin I was fine every morning. Even when I was up all night with my kid or stressing about bills. Then last month I saw a guy from accounting actually say he was having a rough day in the break room. Nobody judged him. Three people even told him they get it. That small moment made me try it myself the next week. I started saying 'not great' once every few days and people actually opened up more. Has anyone else noticed how one honest person can shift the whole vibe?

3 comments

3 Comments

lilyp3723d ago

Started noticing something similar at my job in San Antonio... once I let a couple bad mornings slip out, this one quiet lady in HR started telling me about her cat's surgery. Nobody had any idea she was going through that for weeks because she always smiled through everything. It's like we're all waiting for permission to be real with each other. The weird thing is I actually get more work done now because I'm not wasting energy pretending.

holly_reed5523d ago

oh yeah it's wild how much energy we waste trying to look like we have it all together. i mean think about it, we're basically trained from school age to hide anything messy and just give the right answer. then we hit the real world and suddenly everyone's supposed to be this perfect work robot. but humans aren't robots, you know? we're all walking around with sick pets and bad days and weird family drama, and pretending otherwise just makes everything harder. maybe it's just me but i feel like the more we let those cracks show, the more we realize everyone else has them too. it's like we're all in this big unspoken agreement to fake it until someone else breaks the silence first.

nancyn6923d ago

and honestly the whole 'wasting energy pretending' thing is so real. i feel like we build up this whole mask in our heads thinking it's protecting us but really it just drains us dry. like you said once one person breaks that silence it gives everyone else permission to drop their guard too. that lady in HR with her cat's surgery probably felt so much lighter just getting it out there instead of holding it in all day. it's wild how we all think we're the only ones struggling until someone else proves us wrong.