Ever hear of work-life balance? Me neither! Why life when you can sell your immortal soul to consumerism, capitalism, or any other C-word you can think of. But to be serious for one fleeting moment, it’s rare to come across a person that doesn’t have to work in order to have some semblance of quality living. 

That leads to a lot of situations that are way too relatable: weird coworkers, rude customers, greedy bosses, and the continuous struggle to get enough sleep. All this and more have been turned into some fantastic memes shared in the Facebook group “Work Week Memes.” 547.8K members share and laugh at the unfairness that is life, and we join them today to do more of the same. 

So why are we so upset with the notion of work? Generations before ours spent the same if not more hours hands-deep in labor, and it didn’t spur such things as the Big Quit, the Great Reset, the Great Reshuffle, or the Great Resignation. It’s really not rocket science—people are just fed up with bad jobs. 

Joel Nihlean wrote on Medium that workers of today are looking for less stress, more meaning, and better pay, too. Furthermore, people are burned out. And after the pandemic, many are rethinking the place of work in their lives, reflecting on what gives them meaning and happiness. David Graeber stated in his book Bulls**t Jobs that some jobs are pointless, taking the role of adult daycare.

According to a 2021 poll by YouGov, only a little more than half of all workers feel that their job makes a meaningful contribution to the world. Nearly a quarter of US adults firmly believe that their job is meaningless. Joel further states that highly-valued and highly-paid jobs are most likely to be unfulfilling, useless dead ends that do nothing to make the world a better place.

Potentially, if we all worked exclusively to improve the human condition, we could all work less. But that seems more like a distant fantasy than an approachable reality in many respects. In a lot of cases, the problem isn’t that life is unfair; it’s one’s broken idea of fairness. Can you imagine how insane life would be if it actually was ‘fair’ to everyone, especially when we consider that each of us sees ‘fairness’ subjectively?

This may not be the sign you’re looking for, but don’t quit your job just because you’re unhappy. Laurie Ruettimann, former HR leader, writer, speaker, and podcaster, argues that it can be turned into a valuable learning experience. “You can’t fix COVID, you can’t fix your boss, you can’t fix the people at work who irritate you, and you and you alone can’t fix a company culture,” she said back in 2021 at the end of the pandemic. 

Bad bosses, long hours, racism, sexism, ageism, and ableism are some of the things that plague even good companies and brands, so leaving from one building to another won’t necessarily fix it all, but what you can do is improve yourself. Laurie advises taking up a challenge for 30 days to learn something new—be it an interest or something work-related. 

When you’re learning, you’re growing, and when you’re growing, you are thriving, and thriving is the point of life, according to Laurie. Professionals who are learning report higher rates of satisfaction and engagement, and they are less focused on the negative aspects of work. Furthermore, keep a learning journal, and document what you learn for the next 30 days. 

At the end of 30 days, you should summarize it all by writing out five things you learned about yourself and five things that surprised you about the past month. If you still want to quit your job at the end of that 30-day window, go for it, because you’ll have spent that time working on something to make you better, whether it’s a hobby, working for a cause, or working on a skills gap. 

We should always strive to improve ourselves and our surroundings, but we can only do so much with our time. We might as well focus on things we enjoy doing, and make sure that the 8 or so hours we’re spending at work are at least somewhat amusing, positive, and motivating. As long as you’re doing the best you can, you’re on the right track. 

As you continue to work through this post, scrolling meme after meme at a time, make sure you’re upvoting your favorites and leaving some comments below, and I shall hope to see you all in the next one! Coffee up, chin up, and let’s get this bread, my fellow Pandas!