They say if you love what you do then you will never work a day in your life, however I couldn’t help but wonder how much of today’s materialistic influence jaded that perspective. How many of us truly work a job that brings us genuine happiness? A job that leaves us feeling full-filled and satisfied rather than filling our pockets with that inevitable jingle that comes from money.
Growing up as a teenager who is recently going to enter her 20’s if there is one thing that I have been taught is that life is a race. Especially coming from an ethnic Indian background it’s the one thing that gets engraved onto you when your barely an embryo (and if you have watched 3 idiots then you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about) however as I got older and dare say wiser I couldn’t help but take a step back and think, what is this all for? Why am I a participant in this competitive race called life and if winning was really everything at what cost?
Later the following week I was on the subway sitting in your usual peak hour trains that were packed tighter than sardines in a tin can. Since I am not a morning person this seemed to be the perfect opportunity for me to catch up on some precious last minute sleep before I went to work, where I would be forced to endure another 8 hours of uncanny office humor that came in strong doses on your average Monday morning. As I was about to get knocked out into a light coma I saw this lady typing away happily on her laptop, with the music pumping out of her little headsets as she nodded her head enthusiastically to the catchy rhythm and her typing in sync followed.
As I looked at her I could tell she was mildly stressed ( probably trying to meet a deadline) yet genuinely happy typing away at her 40 page business brief report at a speed that would even leave buzz lightyear baffled . Now call me cynical but I was momentarily taken aback by this sight and remembered thinking to myself that this lady needed some serious therapy, but then it hit me harder than the hit that comes with a strong Starbucks caramel cappuccino. She wasn’t the one with the problem… I was.
The reason why I genuinely shocked by this view was due to the fact that nowadays we see people who work in order to increase the zeros in their bank accounts, rather than increasing the balance in a more high-priority account known as self-fulfillment.
That being said working to earn a steady stream of financial income isn’t necessarily a bad thing, in-fact we all know that due to today’s high demands it is often inevitable for one to try and find some sort or solace within a financially secure environment, as it can provide us with luxuries like travel opportunities and much more varying upon the interest of the person.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that don’t just get into that field of career because of its high demand and high income, but rather try to find a job that balances the both, because at the end day money can buy you a lot of things but it can’t buy you genuine joy even if it’s on sale!
Strategic Chaos 