beyond the grind

It had been days since I had been on this project. It even seeped into my weekend, only to be right back at square one on Monday morning. Had I known, I'd have just rested a lot more instead. Although I consider times like this to be opportunities to learn and expand my experience, I felt overspent on something seemingly futile.

The moment I noticed a senior colleague was having his break, I quickly turned to him for help. Interestingly, he couldn't find the solution either, despite how good he is at this thing. He then suggested to move on to a different part of the project instead, but not long after that, we had casual conversation like we weren't even at work at all. Before I knew it, we had developed a good rapport in that moment.

While I am very keen on keeping my personal life separate from work, I realize that there's sometimes the need for some flexibility. A workplace where it's strictly work or nothing and the people only keep things formal could quickly tell on the level of synergy they'd have as a team. It surely wouldn't be as powerful as with a team where there are healthy relationships between co-workers.

Truth is, not every day feels exactly productive in the wasy I would really want. If the weekend could be only three days longer - I'd sometimes wish when Monday's almost here again. Loving the job has to first of all be in place to keep going - although people may define it differently - but it also helps to have some form of healthy connections with the people around you.

It's much easier to look forward to work, knowing that at some point, you'll experience a certain kind of energy that you enjoy—that somehow keeps you productive. A good example is how there's a lounge where people go to chill. There's a PS5 console there, and when it's game time, we just always tend to have a good laugh most of the time. No one's getting personal and no one is keeping so formal. Balance...

Understandably so, most people may not buy into this idea. They just prefer to mind their business to the core. Minding one's business is good and important, but if you want a kind of environment where you can benefit from the synergistic energy, you should also know that you'd have to write your own invitation sometimes. Being that co-worker that interacts with people in good faith while maintaining boundaries and keeping the energy healthy could benefit you someday when you're in need of that kind of energy to go on.

When the opportunity presents itself, I try to take the initiative to make deposits in the emotional banks of people. It all comes back, eventually, like how my senior colleague could make out time during his well-deserved break to help me through a burnout. There was already a pre-existing level of rapport between us.