Of Work Skins and Proverbial Armour in Tough Times

Every morning I get ready for work, it’s starting to feel like I clothe myself in a different skin. Each night I come home, I take it off again.

Allow me to explain and clarify. It is not a fashionable skin, and has nothing to do with complexions, highlighter or a power suit. My daytime skin lays beneath my clothes, yet serves as an armour in and of itself. It’s like chainmail meets elephant hide, but infinitely more discrete, and I’d very much wish they’d sell it in Woolworths because despite its toughness, it does in fact wear with time.

Dramatic as this may sound, I am willing to bet I am not alone. We all have our “work personality” to some extent, different from the persona we adopt outside of the office; however, it is starting to become a little more than just that.

. Every day, as we get up and go to work to live our adult lives, we are forced to wear braver faces and thicker skins, because the tension of life is becoming just a little bit...more. Office environments are harsher, people more curt, and kindness stubborn about returning from her long-winded sabbatical. It may well be just the human response to an otherwise chaotic year – a self-preservation mode of sorts. Work pressures are harsher than ever before, competitiveness knows no bounds nor standards of morality and people find an all too perverse joy in getting one up over another. It’s less about the work and more about the glory, the limelight lovers trumping the backbreakers and trust and dependability have near totally fled the building. I do not mean to be a Negative Nelly, but surely, we can all feel it to some degree?

. We’re all a little tired, feeling a little stretched thin and perhaps even a little worse for wear. But remember when the skin you wore each day was your own and not one you metaphorically zipped into every morning? It’s time we all let a little more light in, shared a little more kindness, and rid the world of the rot that’s suffocating creativity and kindness cultivation. Pandemic be damned, I say, for the happy-go-luckies and those with a little more sunshine in their pockets (more than you would imagine do in fact exist) bring us such joys as Zoom socials, birthday drive-by celebrations, positivity and “human” in many a form. There is more gratitude and love found in the small gatherings we are permitted to have, and the importance of teamwork in work environments has become more necessary than ever – and in some cases, more prevalent.

. COVID-19 news fatigue is real, but so too is the drive for more feel good and happy news. Across the ponds, fast food chains like McDonalds and Burger King, usually rivals, are now encouraging consumers to support all the franchises, for the veritable survival of the industry; previously traditional publications are offering more digital and more accessible options to keep people in-the-know, and across the US, Red Lobster virtually transports guests to the restaurant with downloadable Zoom backgrounds and a curated Spotify playlist whilst they dine at home. Nike now offers digital resources so people can stay active indoors, whilst author J.K. Rowling, along with Audible, Bloomsbury, OverDrive, Pottermore Publishing and Scholastic, launched Harry Potter At Home . Logos have been re-thought from brands like Coca-Cola to social distance their infamous lettering, whilst KFC has dropped their “Finger Lickin’” for now.

. It does not end there. The push for local brand love and brand consumption in markets like Botswana has never before been this strong, a direct result of border closures and the desire to support small businesses through this harshest of economic battles.

Brands are “doing the most” as some would say, and we see their very real iterations of human, emotive and inspirational messages every day. So how do we make sure the individuals in our communities follow suit and work to fight the trigger for irritation and distress, and spread kindness over tension? It’s time to stop having to wear a different skin and re-think how our work and social environments function. For one, we have no other option, and on the other hand, surely a little love and a more positive energy makes getting through the madness of these “unprecedented times.” Especially for those working from home more often and juggling domestic and parental duties above and beyond their work commitments, a little kindness and compassion would no doubt go a long way.