Quiet quitting guilt: You're Not the Only One

I’m a lab tech – not, like, a scientist, just a tech. …

I worked at this retail place, part-time. …

I started this remote software support gig two years ago, right after I finally hung it up at the office. …

I don't know if this counts as a confession, but I'm a graphic designer for a local charity and I just… do what they tell me. …

I’m in my late sixties now, and I find myself looking back at these small decisions, these little rebellions, and wondering if they were actually bigger than I ever let myself believe. …

Graphic designer, been doing it for… forever. …

Mentoring, I mean. …

Ever since I picked up those few shifts at that new discount retail place, just to, you know, stay busy. …

And the company has this whole philosophy, this… 'asynchronous work' thing, where as long as you hit your metrics, you can do whatever you want. …

The internal mechanism, however, was in a state of deliberate disengagement. …

am i the only one who feels like they’re failing a mission for the greater good by just doing the requested edits at this charity and not pushing for BETTER and it feels like a disservice like some… …

The office politics, the reorganizations, the new hires who think they know everything. …

I just sat there, and the coffee was cooling, and the newspaper was still folded, and the birds were making their usual racket, completely oblivious to the silent war going on in my head, and the… …

you know that feeling when you're just like… trying to exist in a space but you also feel totally INVISIBLE? …

Because *that* feeling, that exact gnawing anxiety, it’s a familiar ghost. …

I just closed out of the work chat for the fifth time tonight. …

I saw the group chat again, 1 AM, all of them "brainstorming" — which really means bonding over pizza and inside jokes I'm never in on. …

I'm a part-timer, just trying to make rent in this ridiculously expensive city, and my main gig is wrestling with clothing racks that look like a tornado hit them. …

I don't bring work home on weekends no more, but every time I see another teacher's Pinterest-perfect, laminated bulletin boards, I feel this weird pinch—like my gut's telling me I'm shorting these… …

My mom, she's really getting bad, like the doctors say it's just gonna keep going downhill and I'm the only one here. …