From the author: Published in the journal “Our Psychology” (No. 4, April 2012) I have a question that I would really like to find an answer to, but this is not written about in detail anywhere, and that’s from a psychological point of view. There are people who feel very uncomfortable in the office (especially creative people), while other people perceive a standard working day as quite normal. I want to know if there are psychological reasons for this. Why do some people find an 8-hour working day terribly depressing and become a source of nervousness, while others are quite happy with it (under equal conditions)? Which people are more susceptible to discomfort in the office? And one more thing: what are the risks of standard sedentary work and being in the office all day? How does this affect the psyche? How does the body react to this? And how can you make your life easier? How to understand that such a job is not suitable for you, distinguishing it from the lazy “I don’t want to.” Psychologist's answer There are, of course, psychological reasons for discomfort in the office. An office is a rather enclosed space. Not yours. Alien. In which there are most likely other people with you - you may experience different feelings towards them. But in any case, neither they you, nor even more so you invited them there. The American psychologist William James, who was the first to propose the concept of our “I”, identified four parts in it, one of which is the material I - he attributed to him all objects, furnishings , the environment with which a person identifies (connects) himself as a person. According to this understanding, your house, apartment, objects that belong to you are an extension of yourself, your self. Therefore, a long stay (8-9 hours of wakefulness 5 times a week) of our physical and spiritual selves in someone else’s material selves cannot but affect the psyche and its health. In extreme cases, we can even talk about office phobia. It has a depressing effect on the psyche, reduces creative potential or does not allow it to develop at all. You may feel it as a loss of self. Physically, this is expressed in the fact that various kinds of muscle tension arise (the face becomes stiff, the shoulders and chest are compressed), shortness of breath (you cannot breathe deeply, there is not enough air). Life activity and office activities allow you to protect yourself from this. First of all, you need to analyze: do you like this job, are you interested in it? If you don’t feel there is meaning in what you are doing (or it is insufficient), you are working “for someone else”, even if you are overloaded with work, being in the office will seem like a prison sentence. It’s not the fact of being in the office that is depressing, but the feeling of it as a punishment - you feel unfree, chained to a chair, limited in movements. This means this job is not suitable for you. This means you are looking in the wrong place. By and large, life in the office can be made easier only by searching for yourself, an activity in which you would see and feel the realization of your “I”. (It helps if there is growth at work, learning something that interests you personally, or you are studying somewhere outside the office.) There are also activities that are secondary to office work - communicating with colleagues, making money, etc., which can under certain conditions, become leaders for you. Even the experience of falling in love. But here, depending on your luck.