“But Martha was thinking to herself, ‘I cannot do all this work alone.’ So, she went to Jesus. She said, ‘Master, my sister is not helping me with the work. She has left me to do it alone. You surely do not think that this is right! Tell her that she should help me!’” Luke 10:40 EASY
I hate being bitter. If you have ever felt bitter towards someone, you’ll understand what I mean. My heart has been filled with bitterness many times in different environments that I can easily spot it every time it starts.
There are many reasons you may feel bitter at work. For someone who likes to take up responsibility when others prefer to pretend like there’s nothing to do, bitterness starts when you feel like you shouldn’t be the one doing everything.
Martha was clearly displeased with the situation. Bitterness often starts when there’s a reoccurrence of the same displeasure over time. Martha may not have gotten to the point of bitterness, but she was on her way there.
There was a period I was so bitter that I often lashed out at my team almost every morning. It was terrible. I felt terrible and I know they felt terrible too. Every little mistake became a mountain and I would take out my frustration on them.
From experience, bitterness is often caused by any of the following:
- Being the only one who takes up more work than you can handle.
- Lack of passion for the work you’ve been assigned
- Bad workplace culture
- Inability to be vulnerable with others which leads to poor relationships at work.
There’s more, but I’ll keep the list short. So how can you deal with bitterness? As I said, I’ve felt bitter at different points in my life, and while I handled some quite well, others got out of hand. Here’s what I’ve learned:
1. Find something you’re passionate about.
Some organisations have pending projects that haven’t started because of manpower. If you feel you’re passionate about one of them, even if it’s in another department, make the request. In my case, I got tired of operations and needed some fresh air. So, I took up the podcasting project, and started interviewing several High Net-worth Individuals (HNIs) and my emotions changed.
2. Talk to someone about it.
I can’t count the number of times I spoke with my business partner about it. I’m not sure he understood me because I couldn’t really articulate how I felt. But it made me feel like I was heard.
3. Exit if necessary.
If the reasons you’re bitter are beyond your control, and you have tried several solutions, including the two options above, perhaps it’s time to change your environment. Quitting isn’t bad if it helps you make better progress in life. I’ve exited several times and I don’t regret any of them.
You may not be the one in this situation, but you may know a colleague who seems to always take up extra work, look tired and is introverted, with almost no workplace relationships. Now you know better and would have more compassion for such a person.
How have you dealt with bitterness at work? I’d love to hear your view. Just hit reply.
Today’s Task: Identify the emotion you feel when you think about work. It could be bitterness, joy, passion, or anything that comes to mind. Write it down in a journal.
Answer This…
“If I could describe my ideal future in 2-4 paragraphs, this is how I would describe it.”
Take out a journal and write this down. It doesn’t have to be perfect since you can review it later.
Source: I get these Growth prompts from my digital journal – GrowthDay.
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