The one and only thing I miss about my previous job is the friends I made there. There’s just very little camaraderie at my new job.
I think the reason we were good friends at my last job was because we were united by a common adversary. By that I mean that we were all generally overworked, underpaid and under a lot of stress. This caused us to band together by way of drunken nights out, much needed fag breaks or cheeky lunchtime wines. Colleagues were pretty tolerant of each others foibles.
Life gives with one hand and takes with another. I feel very little camaraderie in my new job and I think it’s because it’s just a job. We’re under a lot less pressure therefore work isn’t the all consuming, life swallowing beast it was in London.
On one hand this is a shame as my social life has dropped considerably, on the other hand I no longer feel the need to go out, debrief and get drunk just to cope. The sides of my mouth are no longer ragged as I’m not chewing on them like I used to. I’m no longer in the habit of finding my teeth habitually clenched. Best of all I don’t wake up in the middle of the night thinking about work.
I guess at some point I’m going to need to go out and actively seek friendships because no (wo)man is an island, but for now i’m pretty content on my wee island.
