Life Admin Is Slowly Crushing My Soul

It’s safe to say that 99.9% of the time I feel like a hamster running around in its wheel. I swear to god I’m going to get to the end of this… and I’m going to move on… maybe if I get off this damn wheel soon I can go for a drink at my little bottle attached to this cage…. but it’s as if the wheel just keeps coming and coming??… And it just won’t stop??… 

The hamster is most certainly me: life admin is my incessant wheel. And the water bottle on my cage? That’s the glass of wine I’m so desperate to go for with my friends but keep putting off because, well, I’m stuck on this effing life admin wheel. 

For the purpose of clarity I’m going to refer to the ever so accurate Urban Dictionary to define life admin.

TOP DEFINITION
Life Admin:Refers to one’s personal day-to-day chores that are of an administrative nature. This includes tasks such as personal banking, making appointments, paying your bills, responding to personal emails.

It’s the new year and everyone is throwing about resolutions of being more spontaneous and doing more activities. I mean, in our ideal worlds it would be just so utterly splendid to go to work, get there on time because there’s no tube and rail strikes, not have to stay late, the weather not be completely pissing it down to no end – threatening to thundersnow, and you reply to your group chat with a “see you at 6!” to the open question of “anyone fancy the pub tonight?” You go for drinks, you catch up with your friends, you get to bed, and go to work the next day. Yes, that would be nice wouldn’t it.

But then in reality, you get to work (probably doing personal emails on the train), spend your lunch break making ASOS returns to the nearest Post Office branch (which is always rammed with others doing exactly the same so it always takes ages), you finish work late because you spent too long queueing in the Post Office and didn’t get those powerpoint presentations finito, you ignore your friends text on the group chat about the pub because you don’t even have time to be polite anymore, you go home to cook your dinner and prep tomorrow’s lunch, finish your laundry, book a nail appointment you’ll probably cancel because you know it’ll take up a whole evening next week, update your Instagram, shower, and FINALLY text your Mum back because you’ve not spoke to her in so long the only reason she knows you’re still alive is because you uploaded that picture to Instagram 20 minutes ago.

I’m actually exhausted from writing that paragraph. Is it time for bed yet?


Part of me wants to blame this on social media (because you know that I like that so much) but the truth is, it’s a little more than just that. The first entry for the definition of life admin in the Urban Dictionary was in 2010, when social media wasn’t quite as prominent in our lives, but technology was still booming. We have all these apps, smartphones and super fast broadband to help make our lives a little easier and more accessible, but with it it creates and invents even more tasks for us to do. 24/7 access to emails, infinitely scrollable Pinterest and Instagram feeds for our OOTD and interiors inspo, organisational apps, beauty service-booking apps, and hands up who’s in at least 3 big group Whatsapp chats that all need replying to or else you might be thought of to be dead? Add that to the fact that we’re all obsessed with doing stuff – trying that new bar/restaurant on Time Out, getting our hair and nails done, going to the gym – that we don’t have any time to actually do stuff. Or even more importantly, relax.

My admin pile is getting ever greater that just going out and doing anything seems like a chore – remember my post about being a 20-something Grandma? To recap, doing anything that requires any amount of additional effort to my daily regime is a chore I like to avoid. Everything can be added to the to do list. Today’s one: schedule blog posts, schedule social media, call RE massage, email back about photoshoots, ASOS returns, Topshop returns, wash hair, prep food, see Simon. It’s diverse – even my boyfriend has become a tickbox on the todo list (babe I’m sorry)

Life admin takes up so much of my time that when I’m left with any precious minutes (or hours!) I don’t know what to do with them. Do I read a book? Do I clear out my kitchen cupboard? – No! That’s life admin! Do I watch Netflix? It’s been so long that I don’t even remember my password…? That’s fine I’ll text my friends on group chat to see if anyone fancies the pub!!


“Anyone fancy the pub tonight?”


Ah, of course: no reply.

Do you want to know what I should be doing right now instead of writing about life admin? Doing my life admin. In fact, writing this post is the most spontaneous thing I’ve done in a long time. I bet that there’s a tonne of admin that you should be doing right now, amiright? Instead, you’re here, reading about it instead. Sorry. 

Is life admin slowly crushing your soul too? How are you coping? Are you coping? Should we all go on a digital detox in hope of clawing some of our lives back? Have a little cry?

Right. I’m going to get back on my wheel now. And you probably should too…