'It's Just a Job' - The Lie We Tell Ourselves

If you said 'it's just a job' this week, this is your sign to stop lying to yourself.

Some of us say this phrase daily. After that meeting that went nowhere. During the lunch we barely taste. In the bathroom when we need a moment to breathe.

I said it too, for years, before I graduated from corporate to help others regain their power at work.

Here's the truth about why we say it:

Scenario 1: You genuinely don't care Fair enough. You clock in, clock out, unaffected. If this is genuinely you - congratulations. You've cracked the code.

But for most of us? This isn't the truth.

Scenario 2: You're belittling the impact Those hours working in stress. Your Sunday anxiety creeping in around 3 PM. The project you were supposed to lead that got postponed... again. The promotion that went to someone else.

When you say "it's just a job," you're minimizing real experiences that affect your mental health, your relationships, your sense of self. You're telling yourself that 40+ hours of your week don't matter.

But they do matter. And deep down, you know it.

Scenario 3: The stress is too high to acknowledge Sometimes the amount of stress you experience is way too high to handle. So it becomes easier - safer - to say it's 'just' a job. Because admitting how much it affects you would mean admitting you need to do something about it.

And that's terrifying.

The Question That Changes Everything

If it's really just a job, why do you keep saying this phrase so often?

Things we don't care about don't need constant minimizing. We don't walk around saying "it's just a coffee" or "it's just a commute."

We minimize things that hurt us. Things we feel powerless to change.

You Have More Power Than You Think

Understanding why you say this phrase is the first step to reclaiming your power at work. When you stop minimizing your experience, you can start changing it.

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Let's talk about what's really going on beneath the "it's just a job" surface. Together, we'll create a plan to reclaim your power - whether you stay or go.

- Kasia
Ownersheep | I help you decode corporate manipulation so you can protect yourself and reclaim your power