When I tell people I miss working in retail, I am often met with laughs, disbelief, and remarks such as, \u201cYou don\u2019t hear that every day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know why they\u2019re shocked. Retail has a reputation for being demanding, stressful, and low-paying. These descriptions are often accurate, but there\u2019s more to it than that. Whether it\u2019s watching a young employee come out of their shell, introducing a customer to their new favorite cheese, or building a mountain of empty cardboard boxes as you break down a pallet and stock shelves, every day is filled with little moments that culminate in deeply satisfying work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve worked in food retail for the majority of the last decade, and after taking a two-year hiatus, I recently started working part-time at a small general store. My goal was to get out of the house, connect with my community, and hopefully make a few new friends, but after a week or two, I realized the thing I missed most was the flow state I experience in a retail setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The concept of a \u201cflow state\u201d comes from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who described it as \u201ca state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.\u201d It has been described as a melting of action and consciousness, where there is a perfect balance between the anticipated challenges of the task and one\u2019s perceived skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This describes exactly how I feel when I am stocking shelves, drawing an elaborate chalkboard sign, or Tetris-ing boxes in the storage room. Everything else in my head fades to black as I focus on the task at hand. Occupational therapists claim that achieving flow <\/em>on a regular basis can build confidence in your job, create a sense of intrinsic motivation, and decrease the chances of burnout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as with working retail, there can be a dark side of flow. Csikszentmihalyi detailed the stories of artists who got so lost in their work that they neglected basic needs for food, water, and sleep\u2014a story that may sound all too familiar to my fellow retail managers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While a retail environment provides many opportunities to enter a flow state, it\u2019s also filled with ungodly amounts of chaos and mental noise. We forget to feed ourselves\u2014often opting for a handful of whatever\u2019s lying around\u2014have been known to sacrifice sleep, and frequently allow stress to take a toll on us, whether it\u2019s self-imposed or caused by the customers and owners we serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coupled with the fact that these jobs require massive amounts of emotional labor, are relatively low-paying, and command little respect in our culture, it\u2019s a wonder anyone still signs on. Yet, here I am, back for another round, despite what I know\u2014ready to greet whoever walks through the door and take on whatever challenges the day delivers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A retail pro ruminates on her love\/hate relationship with retail after a 2-year break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":46945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[590],"tags":[23351,2457],"coauthors":[33619],"class_list":["post-46944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ruminations","tag-independent-retailers","tag-ruminations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n