Admitting it is the First Step
Hi. My name is Ric, and I’m a present-a-holic. I suffer from a dreaded disease known as presenteeism - the feeling that one must show up for work even if one is too sick, stressed, or distracted to be productive; the feeling that one needs to work extra hours even if one has no extra work to do. I remember back in the late 80’s when we used to be called workaholics, but I suppose there are subtle distinctions that I don’t grasp. In any event I have a monkey on my back that is guilting me into returning to the office tomorrow.
…break this cycle of dependency that I’ve developed with the modern corporation…
Guilt runs deep in my psyche, a gift I suppose from a dormant Catholicism that sleeps like a volcano ready to pop. I don’t want to go back to work. I feel like crap. I want to stay home, heck I want to find something else to do entirely. My big problem is that I need to go back to work; like a wino needs a bottle, like a junkie needs a hit. I get nervous and anxious at the thought not being there and doing my part. People are depending on me, or so my ego tells me. I need a hit - the dim glow of florescent lighting, the cramped cubicals, the stress, the politics.
What I really need is a local chapter of Present-a-holic’s Anonymous, so that I can break this cycle of dependency that I’ve developed with the modern corporation. Won’t you give?
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Stay home, and see if the free world comes to a screeching halt. It’s a win-win situation. If it does, the huge ego stroke will make you feel great. If it doesn’t you can thumb your nose at the guilt-monkey on your back!
Ah to dream! Besides If I stayed home today, I’d miss lunch with my headhunter
If you had a group to go to, wouldn’t you go to that too often? Then you would be torn between work and your support group, it would be awful.
Yes you are right, and that’s why I only do one codependency at a time. It wouldn’t be fair.