98. Shifting Baseline Syndrome, Part 4 - Stockholm Syndrome
In which we realize our capture isn't really that bad
If you didn’t read the last piece in this series because you thought it was too long, I split it into two ADHD-friendly editions. You can catch up on what you missed here: part 2 and part 3
If you’re not already subscribed to By Title Only, don’t make me hurt you…
Baseline Knowledge
There are four important things we’ve already discussed:
1. The amygdala is the part of your brain that triggers the fight-or-flight response. It’s shaped like an almond (which is not important, but I’m hungry).
2. Sudden change - like getting out of your comfort zone - triggers the amygdala and it’s fight-or-flight hormones. This is a reason why many people fear change, biologically speaking.
3. When changes occur slowly and incrementally, you can transform yourself without even recognizing it. In essence, tip-toeing past the sleeping amygdala and avoiding fight-or-flight.
4. Shifting Baseline Syndrome (SBS), as I extrapolate it’s meaning, is the way in which humans will alter their expectations of “normal” in order to accept different behaviors.
For instance, In 1957 there were 13 hurricanes and tropical storms. It was a normal year. In 2017 there were 33, also a normal year. The thing that changed in those 60 years is our perception of normal.
Ok, enough appetizer, on to the main course.
The Great Undoing
People are quitting their jobs in crazy record numbers - like, “levels not seen in the past 20 years” type numbers. According to the US Labor Department, over 4 million people quit their jobs in April 2021 alone. Another 3.8 million people quit their jobs in May.
These numbers represent a whopping 75% year-over-year increase.
It’s a LOT of people leaving their jobs. Needless to say, the exit interview business is booming.
The obvious question is…
Why?
According to me and this NPR article, a major reason for this mass quitting is because our baseline perception of a “normal work experience” has changed.
After 18 months of COVID protocols, people have realized they do not need to be chained to an office. People have experienced more freedom, and it turns out they like it.
Freedom to work from wherever they want. Freedom to lay down and take a break. Freedom to take the cat out for a walk. Freedom to wear a work shirt with pajama bottoms and slippers all day.
Over the past 18 months, we have had a tectonic, SBS-like shift in the acceptance of what is a “normal” work environment.
And this is where the Stockholm Syndrome comes into play.
The Stockholm Syndrome - COVID Edition
In 1973, four people were taken hostage during a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. When they were finally released, they actually defended the bank robbers and refused to testify against them.
And such is the Stockholm Syndrome, in which hostages develop an emotional bond with their captors during captivity (anyone remember Patty Hearst?)
Many of us were held captive in our homes during COVID. At first we were in denial, we complained, then we got angry, we got depressed. We wanted to fight it - or fly back to our office.
Then somewhere along the way the captivity became normal. And somewhere in there we kinda grew to like many aspects of the experience. We accepted our situation and actually found hope and opportunity in it.
And this, my friend, is exactly the point I’ve been trying to get to over the past four pieces.
We’ve been put in captivity during COVID-19 and through that process, our Shifting Baseline Syndrome has created an entire new perception of “normal work life “. What we initially thought was a suffocating prison actually turned out to be a new life of freedom.
We have come to like our captor. And the captor was us.
The problem, however, is with US companies. They are the reason why people are quitting jobs en masse. And that, my friend, is what we’ll be talking about next week.
Quote
“The most important investment you can make is in yourself."
- Warren Buffett
Tidbits
4 Days. 40% of Americans want 4 day work weeks. I’m in! Check it out
Pizza For Your Life. In a Swedish High Security prison, some murder convicts took two guards hostage and demanded a helicopter as ransom. A mediator was brought in and instead they ended up settling for….yes, pizzas. That’s one darn good mediator. (read more here)
1921’s View of Today. People in 1921 predicted that by 2021 entertainment will happen at home (hello Netflix) and there will be electric cars. At least they had some foresight. (read it)
Toilet Paper Rolls. This may very well be the most useless site on the Internet.
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