I just started a new job 1 month ago. Prestigious company, office job with WFH flexibility, will look really great on my resume long term. Good work culture, at least in the sense the company wants to foster a real sense of team spirit. The flip side, like most employees I’m not on a contract, just a full-time casual through a temp agency.
The problem is that I find the work exhausting. KPI driven metrics, the completion of one task means a new one immediately pops up in the system. Lately all I have been doing is either working or sleeping. Perhaps this is just culture shock going from a three day to a full five day job. Yet even with the money coming in I just don’t have the energy to enjoy my free time when I’m just recovering in anticipation of the coming work week. If not for a string of well-timed public holidays I’m not sure I would’ve had the energy to survive this past month.
Furthermore, through no fault of the workplace, I feel as though this year has seen a general decline in my physical and mental health. A general sense of fatigue, I’m getting some blood work done to see if there is an iron or vitamin D deficiency etc. Moreover, the news lately is starting to get to me, call it ‘doomscrolling’ if you will but all this talk of Ukraine/Russia and nuclear war has me really rattled; I concede I may need to seek professional help.
My breaking point and the reason for making this post, is that now I have actually fallen ill. A gastro virus has been sweeping through the office and I suppose it was only a matter a time before it got me. Yet now having the virus and taking two days off work (without pay mind you) to recover has given me time to think. Falling in a heap like this has brought all of these issues into focus and now I just don’t know if my situation is a bad as it looks or whether I’m losing an objective assessment of the situation.
The ultimate question now is whether I quit my job. I don’t have anything else lined up but I do have plenty of savings still in reserve and (probably) the ongoing support of my parents. Although, neither of my parents were thrilled when I raised the prospect of me resigning this job so soon. The time spent now instead of work would be on recovery, figuring out why I’m so tired and getting my head straight. Alternatively, I could just tough it out and see if the job gets easier from here.