Enjoying Life Is The Best Kept Secret At Work

A secret club that nobody knows about - because it would ruin your reputation.

I completed my first 30 days in my new role and met with the finance partner about expense pressure. She joked, ‘Are you having fun yet?’ I laughed and said, ‘Would you believe me if I said Yes?’ It was a moment of connection, and she said, ‘I love a challenge.’ I agreed wholeheartedly and said, ‘I know, right. All the cylinders in my brain are firing, and I love it. Otherwise, it is boring.’ And we got talking about starting a secret club at work for people who have fun there.

Why does it have to be secret? Because if you have fun at work, there is something wrong with you. Work is supposed to be drudgery - a place you go because you have no choice. Now, my take on it is different - one I spent most of my waking life at work, so I’d better make the most of it. How can I have a happy life if I am not happy where I spend most of my life? And happiness has nothing to do with the work you do - there is so much more to work than just working. Like, what dress you wear, what earrings you wear, having honey in your tea in your favourite thermos, getting to know your co-workers as people in bits and pieces. And most importantly, don’t take life too seriously - it’s work after all, or it’s life at the end of the day. Life does not become something else because it is work - you are still living your life.

I spoke to a gentleman at work who is sixty-two years old and has worked since he was seventeen, as an intern. And he joked that even after he retires, he will still haunt meetings in the background as a stalker. If you have read my blogs for the last year, you will know that I had a miserable life at work - a really challenging situation, but the fact that I wore my dazzling blue jewellery kept me going. When the going gets tough, the tough bring out their cute stuff.

I remember going to my dad’s office as a kid, getting all the printer paper they didn’t want, sitting in the swivel chairs and clacking on the heavy keyboards on the desktops. Oh! And his office had faster internet than at home, which was a treasure in itself. And then sometimes the peon would bring in tea, and I would get it too. All my dad’s colleagues would pop in to say hello. Maybe some of that carried over when I started working, because for my dad, who also started work at eighteen, his company was a second home.

Can you imagine working since you were eighteen or seventeen? I guess when you start that young, there is no line between office and life, because you live your life and have your first experiences through the office. Whether I like it or not, many of my experiences have happened through office - going out to a restaurant, having my own canteen coupons, having a peon give me tea, first production release, having fun with my team(s), first time leading people, having lunch with colleagues who somehow become friends.

Well, all this to say that it does not matter where you are; it is life. You cannot take life out of anything; you might as well make the most of it, and there will be phases when you cannot make the most of it. Remember those because when they are over, you will see how much brighter life is. And you do not need a lot to enjoy life - a cute sticker, a lovely quote, clean toilets - small things in life matter sometimes they are the only things that keep us going. Whatever makes us grateful, eh?

What are the small and simple things that make your heart swell with joy?