Depression, Anxiety, and ADHD Are on the Rise Because Modern Work Is (Mostly) Bullshit

My experiences and struggles with the corporate world and what I learned about myself. How to be happy when not fitting in.

All my life I have done what was expected of me.

Not even by my parents or partner or any other individual, really, but rather by society itself. That invisible, not quite tangible pressure many of us feel — to conform, to go to university, to earn as much money as possible, to get one of those very, very well-paid office jobs, and, potentially, rise to management. Then you’re invited to those fancy dinners with other well-off members of society, expensive restaurants, golfing, sailing trips, whatever.

Status feels good. I’ve been there, for a short while.

When I started my first job after graduating, I was enthusiastic and ambitious; ready to join the elitist white-collar dream. My parents were uneducated refugees from the Yugoslav Wars, so hard, manual blue-collar labor was all they could ever dream of. They wanted more f…