Last year in 2021, I got fed up with my boring office job pushing papers all day. Felt like my brain was turning to mush sitting in those gray cubicles for eight hours straight. Remembered I’m a Virgo – supposed to be organized and practical right? So I decided to actually use that for once instead of just rotting at that desk.
Started simple: bought a cheap blue notebook from the dollar store. Every morning while eating cereal, I’d scribble down all the stuff making me miserable at work. Stuff like: “Karen microwaves fish in breakroom AGAIN” and “boss wears socks with sandals” and “computer takes 20 minutes to boot up”. Real dumb things but seeing them on paper made me realize how much little crap adds up.
Did this for two weeks straight. Then one Saturday morning I spread all the notebook pages on my kitchen floor with highlighters and colored stickers. Made three piles:
- Shit I can’t change (like Karen’s fish addiction)
- Stuff I might fix with effort (like asking IT for new computer)
- Things meaning I should quit (like soul-crushing boredom)
The quit pile was WAY bigger. So next Monday I marched into my manager’s office shaking like a leaf but said it straight: “I’m done here end of next month”. Scariest moment ever but damn did it feel good after.
Spent my last weeks there quietly applying for anything practical using Virgo skills – data entry, project assistant jobs. Rewrote my resume focusing only on organizational stuff I actually liked doing. Cut out all the fluff about “team synergy” nonsense.
Landing the new gig took longer than expected though. Had to do some dumb survival jobs in between:
- Week 1: Delivered pizzas – got lost three times
- Week 2: Stocked groceries overnight – ate expired chips for dinner
- Week 3: Temp receptionist – hung up on angry lawyers by accident
But that notebook kept me going. Whenever I felt like giving up, I’d read my own handwriting about the fish smell and sandal socks.
Finally got hired as operations coordinator at a small marketing firm last November. Still use that blue notebook every damn day – now it’s filled with project checklists instead of complaints. Funny how writing down your petty frustrations actually leads somewhere useful. Who knew?
