work + nihilism = ???

never thought i’d be alive during a time when people would seriously question the role of work in life. not because i didn’t think it was possible, but because, particularly in america, our general obsession with defining who we are by what we do for work makes it pretty damn near impossible to imagine society putting a question mark where an exclamation point usually is.

the rapid shift to remote work due to the covid-19 pandemic has made this formerly impossible thought a fact – we’re seeing the real-time restructuring of the role of work in our minds and our lives, and are feeling the very real pushback, from employers, from the government, from those who NEED us to prioritize work. it’s a slow restructuring, but a notable one.

nihilism is here.

on its winding journey, it has found itself in our changing opinions about work, and what we’re discovering is not what our parents and grandparents assume and has been echoed by generations before them, aka “no one wants to work these days!” (to be fair, who WANTS to work?) – we’re discovering there’s little to no fulfillment or meaning in how work currently functions in our society, despite requiring so much of our skills, time, and energy.

while i will continue to point out that we possess decreasing stamina and effort required to pour into our personal lives and communities, i absolutely do not think that about our relationship with work. in fact, i think we give too much to work, which is exactly why we have very little effort left for ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. we’re tired. that exhaustion has led many of us to question work’s role in our lives as human beings. i know i’m not the only one who’s been wondering “what the fuck is the point?!” for years.

in america, if you’re not a workaholic, it’s basically impossible for you to enjoy your job in any real way. even if you do happen to like your job, people are losing them left and right. even if you happen to keep your job, it probably doesn’t pay you enough to survive, let alone thrive. what is the point of continuing to play this stupid game, especially during a time when leaders across sectors are too afraid to stop working and enjoy their own lives, which means they’re only going to leave when they die, and that fear likely means that they’re not preparing successors, which means no one has the information that they have and/or the people who are able to scrape together the information are going to be burnt out or potentially decide to completely opt out of whatever role and industry they’re in, if not work altogether? what is the point?! textbook nihilism.

and you know what? i love it. i love that nihilism has finally joined the work happy hour in a more vocal way. work doesn’t need to be #1 – we’re here to live, not work. i love it because nihilism is making people speak up and ask more questions, consider other possibilities, and wonder “what else is there?”

what else can we create?

what’s another way for us to get what we need?

what’s another way for me to use my skills to be helpful to others?

we’re seeing the speaking up. despite the number of layoffs steadily increasing since 2022 (largely spurred on by elon musk‘s twitter layoff) and this being an extremely employer-driven job market, employers are not driving the narrative. in all honesty, they haven’t driven the narrative since 2020. the stigma formerly associated with layoffs doesn’t carry the same weight when we’re starting to vocally and consistently question employer motives. at a time when it wouldn’t be a shock for jobseekers to remain silent due to fears about securing employment, people are finding their voices. give linkedin a scroll and you’ll see it’s not flooded with employers sharing information to position themselves as a great place to work or talking about they’re making recruiting processes more efficient and equitable; it’s full of candidates sharing feedback about shitty interview processes, folks with 20+ years of tenure who’ve recently gotten laid off over email, recent and new grads still struggling to find their first jobs. we’re seeing disillusionment in real-time and we’re not being quiet about it. along with destabilizing the economy, employers and political leaders have unknowingly destabilized our traditional thoughts about work. instead of people solely responding to uncertainty with expected and warranted stress about unemployment, we’re asking “why does it have to be this way?” and starting to do the challenging but rewarding work of figuring out what a different way might be for each one of us. what it would mean if work wasn’t so capable of defining and destroying us without contributing much to our lives or allowing us to contribute much to our own lives and the lives of others.

what we previously laughed at as midlife crises that people personally went through in their own lives at their own time, we’re collectively having right now. can you feel it? voluntary resignations and career breaks and sabbaticals and all these professional pauses we thought only a select few could do, more and more people are doing. when i voluntarily left my leadership role in 2023, i wasn’t the only black woman executive in america to make that choice. to say enough. i need REST. we’re reshuffling. we’re asking where can work go where it will fulfill me without taking everything from me? what does that version of work look like?

we’re seeing the opting out of traditional full-time work and exploring alternative options. things like contract work, fractional work, project-based work that also came with their own stigmas are already picking up steam and credibility in a way they haven’t before due to desperation, flexibility, autonomy. the sudden death of “good jobs” has consequences. not just economic ones. if even the concept of security can be pulled out from underneath you, what’s the point in doing things the traditional way? what’s the point of making work the important thing in your life?

i’ve been wondering whether this conversation about work was making its way through popular culture. my search for synchronicity brought me (back to) the sims, a game i haven’t played in entirely too long. the sims recently celebrated their 25th anniversary last month and released their latest expansion pack last week – businesses and hobbies – which gives players an opportunity to turn activities sims are able to do within the game into a small business (e.g. pottery studio, tattoo studio, gym) by allowing them to charge guests a one-time or hourly fee, and live away from, next to, or above/underneath their business, or even run it from inside their home or apartment. while there’s been some criticism from players about the english “businesses and hobbies” translation of the title (the “from hobbies to businesses” translation does sound way more accurate based on what you’re actually able to do in the game), i will say that the english translation gets at what i’m hoping to see come out of this real world questioning of work’s priority in our lives. it places hobbies and businesses on the same level because of their potential. obviously there’s financial potential, but i’m talking about MEANING. everything you’re interested in has the potential to be the biggest, most important, incredibly significant thing to you – it’s up to you to figure out the priority order that’s most meaningful and fulfilling. (hello absurdism!)

i’m planning my return to the sims largely because i’m excited to literally play out what work means in all its iterations beyond the traditional. we know what it’s like to make work our number one focus. what would it mean to shrink work down to what we consider “hobby-size” and shift hobbies up to work’s role? – again, not in terms of money; in terms of meaning. what would it mean for us to collectively think of work as something else we do that allows us to create a fulfilling life? i want us all to get to that place. to have the strength and vulnerability and bravery to ask the questions that risk breaking down the foundation of an already crumbling system simply because the answers are worth finding out.

i’m not sure where the questioning will go from here, particularly when it’s clear the goal is terror – to stop us from thinking about how to do things differently and keep us focused on work, but i have faith we’ll keep digging. we’ll keep reshuffling and reprioritizing. i know i will. and i know nihilism isn’t going anywhere.

now excuse me, i’m off to build a coworking space in the sims 4!