My Fat Job, My Job Fat

by Bear Jack Gebhardt on April 7, 2010

Went to work a number of years ago as a stop smoking counselor for the county. After most of a lifetime working free-lance, either in my own businesses or as an independent contractor, the regular paycheck, (regardless of how many clients I had), the paid holidays and numerous benefits were/are sweet. With such a job, I could sit back, smoke big cigars.

Alas, the occasional, yet systemic bureaucratic pettiness, near-sightedness and crushing snail’s pace of services offered which seems endemic through most government agencies, can be a bit sour. With such a job, I could lean forward, pull out my hair.

Curiously, as the months and years passed in my new gig, I noticed my pants started to shrink— or, maybe, just maybe, my waistline started to expand. I started to get fat on my new fat job.

Furthermore, I noticed that most of the other “new hires” in other departments likewise started to add a few pounds, and then a few more as the months went by. “Getting fat on the government dole,” was one explanation.

Another explanation was offered in a recent study by researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center. These researchers, reporting in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, found that “chronic job stress and lack of physical activity are strongly associated with being overweight or obese.”

Job stress leads to weight gain? Possibly. And yet…

NPR reporter Anne Garrels was in Baghdad during the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation. We might assume a certain job stress could be present in such a role. But wait: She lost over twenty pounds during her time there.

“Is it because the food is poor, or unusual or hard to come by?” one of her colleagues asked her in an interview.

“Oh no. The food is great. And very plentiful and always available.”

“Then how did you lose the weight?” her colleague asked.

“No more boredom eating,” she replied.

Ahh, boredom eating. Which goes hand in hand with frustration with the boss eating. And irritation with coworkers eating. And not getting paid enough to do this eating. Basically, not being happy to be where we are eating. Not being at peace with what is happening eating.

Maybe the “epidemic” of American obesity is in fact an epidemic of un-peace, dis-ease, or just old fashioned grouchiness, not only with our jobs but also with the whole culture and world view that we have inherited.

Here’s my plan: To reduce “job fat” I’m going on a “boredom diet.” I am cutting down on how much boredom I’ll allow into my daily life. If I don’t enjoy to do something, I’m not going to do it. Or I’m going to change how I’m thinking and feeling about it so I do enjoy it more.

I’m going to have more fun on my job. Get more curious about how to do what I’m doing in a newer, fresher way. I’m dropping the attitude. In fact, I’m dropping everything—my whole persona, my past and my future, to hang out in what the Zen guys call “the face you had before you were born,” But first, I have to do my monthly report. (Maybe I’ll have a cookie instead.)

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