If you don't want to go to work, you must have heard of "spiritual resignation", which has never dissipated since its first appearance on the Internet platform. The various "spiritual resignation experiences" summarized and shared by senior migrant workers have also been repeatedly recited by netizens, causing countless resonances, and are known as the joys and sorrows common to all human beings.
What is it that has led us to pursue "spiritual resignation"?
01
What makes a migrant worker decide to "leave his job mentally"?
"Spiritual resignation" refers to the physical body is still working in the company, but the spirit is already in a state of resignation, and netizens ridicule it as a "workplace scumbag/scumbag behavior" that is detached from the work appearance, which is specifically manifested in never arriving early at work and never staying long after work; Take a penny, do a penny, and refuse to take more responsibility; Strictly demarcate the boundaries between work and life, and protect personal time from being disturbed by work; Giving up the idea of doubling down on self-motivation, never paying any extra emotional costs for work, etc.
Although the term "spiritual resignation" always appears in the public eye in a self-deprecating and self-deprecating way, when you take off the relaxed and funny mask of "spiritual resignation", you can see the tangled and helpless workers behind the masks, and their exhausted appearance is almost the same as An Lingrong, who is unwilling to fight in the palace in "The Legend of Zhen Huan".
Image source: "The Legend of Zhen Huan"
In addition to being weak and listless all day long, they also have some common characteristics: they have no interest in promotion and salary increase, they also refuse to surpass their expectations infinitely, and they often have an indifferent attitude when facing company affairs, like an emotionless programmed robot...... In short: tired, don't want to do it, boring. This state is also in line with the typical characteristics of "burnout" – emotional exhaustion, low sense of achievement, and depersonalization.
In this way, "spiritual resignation" is actually a self-protection mechanism initiated by migrant workers to combat pervasive burnout.
02
"Bullshit work" breeds burnout
Where does burnout come from? This may start with "bullshit work".
Anthropologist David · Graeber argues in his book Bullshit Jobs:
Modern society is full of meaningless and even harmful jobs, which are based on employment relationships, have no real meaning of existence, and pretend to be meaningful through "busyness".
Individuals who engage in "bullshit work" are unable to recognize their own value in it, but they are held hostage by the so-called "work ethic", constantly deceiving and paralyzing themselves, and are prone to ignore their inner trauma or simply attribute their exhaustion to their own abilities.
"Bullshit work" turns the individual into a vague drop of water in the ocean, a screw on a factory machine that is constantly worn out, rather than a thinking, creative, and living "person", so it violates the basic demands of human nature and is a spiritual violence that cannot be underestimated.
Image Credit: "Naoki Hanzawa"
However, under the heavy pressure of survival, the "physical resignation" is too extravagant and risky, and people cannot immediately throw out the resignation letter, so they have to use the "weapons of the weak" such as laziness, pretending to be confused, and desertion to carry out silent struggle, and achieve a delicate balance between material pressure and mental pressure.
It can be seen that "spiritual resignation" is also a covert resistance strategy of migrant workers in order to avoid being completely reduced to a tool and a means.
03
"Spiritual resignation" is only a stopgap measure
But protection mechanisms and resistance tactics like "spiritual resignation" are not long-term solutions, let alone a one-size-fits-all solution, but a stopgap measure to alleviate workplace burnout.
To a certain extent, the "spiritual resignation" is a realistic reflection of the psychoanalyst Winnicott's view of the "pseudo-self". When our true self is unable to experience a sense of identity, a sense of accomplishment, and a sense of value in the workplace, we bury our true self deep inside and create a false self to adapt to the workplace environment and create space for the development of our true self.
Image Credit: "The Cutting of Life"
However, maintaining a "false self" will also deplete psychological resources and is not conducive to the healthy growth of the true self. At the same time, the "pseudo-self" cannot solve all problems, and when the problems become more severe, the true self is still needed to deal with them. In addition, the emergence of a "pseudo-self" is essentially a separation of the self, and long-term separation will disrupt the integration of individual continuous experiences, and ultimately affect our daily lives.
04
Can't get rid of burnout, what to do?
So, is it possible for us to completely wash burnout from our bodies?
Psychologist Cui Qinglong believes that this is unlikely, because burnout is the inevitable psychological state of a healthy person.
Just as our bodies inevitably age, negative emotions and burnout feelings are inevitable, and if we deliberately avoid and forcibly peel them off, it will only make the psychological background full of processes that cannot be closed, exacerbate the loss of psychological energy, and make life incomplete to a certain extent.
We need to understand and embrace burnout, try to understand the generation behind it, and try to embrace the inevitable response mechanism. And a friendly response to negative emotions such as burnout is in fact an empathy and acceptance of the personality defects that are prevalent in ourselves and others, and only in this way can we know the whole person, the concrete person, and the real person.
Image Credit: "The Cutting of Life"
While there's no complete way to get rid of burnout, there are still a few ways you can help maintain a healthy regulatory mechanism:
1. Allow yourself to pause and allow yourself to rest
As mentioned earlier, "negative emotions and burnout are inevitable", and exhaustion may be a signal for the body to ask the brain for help, reminding us to pause, rest, and recharge ourselves with a good sleep, a good meal, and a hug.
2. Listen to your inner voice
We need to know who we are, to ask what we want, to think about what we want to become, and then follow the guidance of our inner voice to find a job that is truly suitable for us, and to gain a sense of identity, accomplishment and value in it.
3. Work is not everything, life is the main line
The generation of burnout is related to the alienation of people in modern society, and to combat this alienation, we need to reset the ends and means, and always remind ourselves: work is not the end of life, but the means of life, do not focus on work, but learn to enjoy life.
Image Credit: "I, get off work at the end of the day!" 》
Whether it's taking a break, listening to your inner voice, or adjusting your life's focus, they all have one thing in common: awareness, confrontment, and acceptance of burnout.
The burnout level assessment will help you understand your burnout level in terms of emotional exhaustion, personal fulfillment, and interpersonal stress, and tailor a customized recommendation guide for you based on the results.
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It is only when burnout is truly visible on the mental level that change is possible at the action level.
bibliography
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[1] David · Graeber: Meaningless Work, trans. Lu Yujun, Beijing: CITIC Press, July 2022.
[2] Han Bingzhe, "Burnout Society", translated by Wang Yili, Beijing: CITIC Press, June 2019.
[3] James · C. · Scott: Weapons of the Weak, translated by Zheng Guanghuai, Zhang Min and He Jiangsu: Yilin Publishing House, January 2007.
[4] Douban Time: "The body is at the workplace, the spirit has left |." "Scumbag Girl and Scumbag in the Workplace" Cultivating the History of Blood and Tears", June 9, 2023.
[5] Gu Siqing, "Not wanting to go to work is the joy and sorrow of human beings," February 10, 2022.
[6] Simple Psychology, "Young People Who 'Spiritually Quit' Want to Draw a Distance from Bullshit Work," October 20, 2022.
[7] Daily People, "The Body Is at Work, the Spirit Has Left," December 11, 2022.
[8] People: "Why Are We Getting Tired?" 28 March 2022.
[9] Sanlian Life Weekly: "Today, Have You "Spiritually Resigned"? January 13, 2023.
Author: Congee Editor: kk*This assessment is a paid assessment in the APP