Office Work Is Like An Aquarium

You usually have little in common with the other fish

Work-life is like an aquarium, especially if you work in a corporate office environment. You are often surrounded by people you have absolutely nothing in common with except for their 9–5 proximity.

You are allegedly there to work together on some grand mission to make money to live on and to make a profit for your bosses. That is the stated reason why you chose that particular aquarium.

But if you work in the same office space for years, with the same people, it is like an enclosed environment that you can’t escape from until the closing bell rings.

Frustrations, resentments, and clashes over work assignments sometimes spark long-held feelings of anger. But again, you feel trapped.

Once you are immersed in your daily routine, you swim around in the same meaningless patterns for the rest of each day.

You see the same old faces in the same old places, day after day, monotonous months, and yet another office party at the end of each year.

You feel like you are swimming in circles. You are trapped.

Remembering past resentments and taking people for granted go along with the pattern.

You love them, you hate them at different times but you can’t get away from their constant presence. They are always there.

An aquarium is a self-sustaining ecosystem. You have all the nutrients you need to survive, food to eat, and water to drink. Sometimes you get an extra perk that temporarily elevates your status amongst all the other fish.

But this can lead to further resentment, which is why most co-workers jealously guard their pay rate from even their closest friends.

Instead of working in unison, you start developing cliques or even worse, become a loner. Don’t let this happen to you. It makes the aquarium seem even smaller.

Careless whispers, exclusive lunch breaks, and outright hostility often surface and make old wounds, slights, and a lack of common courtesy all combine to make you feel even more trapped.

We all have to work to survive, so try to make the best of each day. Set your boundaries and maintain them.

Try to wipe the slate of old grievances clean every day before you enter the closed environment of the aquarium.

Try to be the one who builds bridges instead of setting up barriers or indulging in petty disputes. Try not to get sucked up into office politics.

Try to keep the temperature down when minor annoyances inevitably flare up. Because they will.

Remember, anger feeds on itself.

If you can work remotely, jump at the chance. Even if only for a few days a week, it will help.

If you can afford to work independently and be your boss, do it.

Anything to break up the monotony that working in an aquarium engenders.

If worst comes to worst, you may have to balance the seniority and status that you have built up over the years with the frustration and resentment that has also built up during the time you have spent in the same aquarium.

Some people like being the bad fish. Don’t let that happen to you.

If you make every effort to be the peacemaker, the calm one, the mediator instead of the instigator it may help.

But temporary patches are like bandaids, they always come off sooner or later. Give it your best shot, so you can at least know you tried.

Nobody likes to work in a toxic work environment. I know, this has happened to me and it was just me and a few close friends against a boss from hell who kept everybody on edge.

We all eventually left but still keep in touch during the holidays.

But nothing lasts forever.

If nothing you do helps, it may be time to move on to another aquarium.

Life is like an aquarium. Sometimes we all need a change. We are all connected…