Office jobs suit many people. They’re not physically strenuous, not too hard to cope with after a late night or when you’ve got a cold, and they come with a routine. You start at 9am, settle into your work station and leave after 5pm. You are in the same space everyday, so you accustom yourself to concentrating on work in that zone. This makes work easy to leave it behind when you go home, since all reminders remain in the office.
Although this sounds great, working in an office is not for everyone. Being in once place all day, five days a week, can prompt a feeling of confinement, and can cause workers to feel stir-crazy, restless, irritable, or bored. If you find that you’re twitching your legs by the end of a double period at school or a long lecture, then it’s quite possible that an office or other sitting job is not going to suit you. You don’t want to end up fidgeting, losing concentration, getting bored, feeling muscularly restless, or even getting aggressive due to pent up energy. It’s not fun when your job starts to drive you crazy.
Office work can also affect your health. Studies have shown that sedentary jobs attract a higher risk of diabetes and obesity. Also due to the lack of movement, desk work can be detrimental to your heart health and can result in serious wear on your joints, as well as causing back problems. Since being physically inactive for extended periods of time takes its toll on your body’s health, it’s important to incorporate a level of movement into your daily life. So while you’re still considering your future, the environment of your career and its mental and physical impacts are also factors to include.
So what if you think you will get restless in an office? Or if you don’t want to encourage obesity or back problems? Well, sedentary isn’t the only way to go – there are plenty of other job types out there, including active, standing, outdoors, and travelling. These jobs vary from para-professions and trades to tertiary qualified professions. The below sections give an overview of each job type, so that you can get a good idea of what might suit you personally.
Active jobs
Description: Any job that keeps you moving. This may include periods of sitting or standing, but overall, you will be active throughout each work day.
Examples: Chef, Dancer, Event Manager, Fire-Fighter, Nurse, Medical Specialist, Personal Trainer, Primary and Secondary School Teacher, Teacher’s Aide, Tradesman, Painter and Decorator, Production Manager, Set Designer, Waiter, and Winemaker.
Pros: Active jobs give you the opportunity to move around, use your muscles, and keep the blood pumping. Activity also helps the time to pass quicker than sitting at a desk for eight hours a day.
Cons: If you’re tired or unwell, active jobs do not help recovery. You’ll need to have consistent energy levels to cope with the demands of the job.
Outdoor jobs
Description: These jobs have you working outside, under the sun, clouds or rain. Generally they are active and may involve travelling to different places to work.
Examples: Animal Attendant, Marine Biologist (during fieldwork), Construction Worker, Environmentalist, Farmer, Gardener, Labourer, Landscape Architect, Lifeguard/Lifesaver, Mobile Heavy Machinery Operator, Science Field Officer, Sign Writer, Sportsperson, and Tree Surgeon.
Pros: You’re working as Mother Nature intended: outside, exposed to the elements, breathing in the fresh air and exercising your body. Working outside keeps you healthy and fit, and is certainly never dull.
Cons: The weather doesn’t remain at a nice and moderate 25˚C all year round. You’ll have to carry out your tasks in pouring rain, freezing cold, and scorching heat. Nature doesn’t seem so beautiful when you catch the flu from a bitter day on site.
Standing jobs
Description: These jobs have you on your feet most of the time, whether moving around or standing stationary.
Examples: Auctioneer, Baker, Camera Operator, Dentist, Florist, Hairdresser, Hospitality, Masseur, Photographer, Retail Worker, Science Lab Worker, Surgeon, Surveyor, Usher, and Veterinarian.
Pros: You’re not itching to get out of your chair all the time. There is freedom to move and nothing beats sitting down at the end of the day, contrasting office work, in which after sitting all day, the fun is taken out of relaxing in your personal time.
Cons: You get sore legs and feet, and standing for extended periods of time can make you more likely to develop varicose veins (although ditto with sitting down). The floor you stand on can be too hard, causing back pain and bad posture, while fighting against gravity all day can be exhausting, even if you don’t move around much.
Travelling jobs
Description: These jobs are not based in one place all the time. You may travel constantly, or you may switch between a workplace and travelling.
Examples: Courier, Detective, Farrier, Flight Attendant or Engineer, Interior Designer, Journalist, Management Consultant, Merchandiser, Nanny, News Reporter, Police Officer, Pilot, Real Estate Agent, Sales Representative, Social Worker, and Surveyor.
Pros: Each day is different. You don’t have time to get used to one environment, before you move onto the next. If you do have a workplace to return to, then at least you’re not there often enough to begrudge it for holding you hostage between 9am and 5pm!
Cons: You can feel a bit displaced, constantly moving with no real base. It’s nice to have a place to call your own, set up, and store things. It can be stressful to have to travel all the time – you don’t know what environment or culture to expect next.
There are endless options for jobs outside of an office setting. However, if none of them appeal to you, and say, you know for a fact that you want to be a software designer, don’t let this article make you question your goal.
Instead, just try to eliminate the negative elements of continuous sitting and confinement. Go for a walk on your lunch break to get fresh air, be in a new environment, and stretch your legs. Stand up and do ten minutes of stretching on your morning and afternoon tea breaks. Instead of emailing someone in your office, stand up and deliver the message in person. Combining these small activities can prevent you from getting restless or irritable, and can help you focus on and appreciate on the career you’ve built for yourself.
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