I had a thought this week, now that I'm considering my future post-graduation. I've been supporting myself in unique ways over the past several years, and I may soon have the opportunity to put that aside in the interest of something more stable, higher-paying, and let's face it, more demanding. And I'm thinking that I don't want to, not because I'm lazy (I work constantly as it is), but because I don't want to contribute to a society that claims that work is life.
When I consider my life, and the lives of others, I see that the strain work places on us as human beings causes us to treat ourselves with less care, in the interest of our jobs. We give our jobs all we have, whether we realize it or not. Then all that is left at the end of the day is the dregs. How is that life? Let's face it-who among us, with a full-time job, really spends every minute working? The answer is not zero. I understand that there are plenty of people who work hard, and then others for a number of reasons are limited by their own abilities and work harder than most. I grant you that.
What if you only had to be productive half the time? Or even less? What if everyone were salaried, and could leave when their work was done? What if we began to look at eachother more as human beings and less as mindless, all-powerful, drones? What if we were all honest about our needs? What if we were vulnerable, and committed to change?
Utopia is a dream, but being fully human is something worth striving for.
How intelligent of you to contemplate this now, before accepting a job that will consume your life. Figure out how much you will love the job you will have and then only associate the hours to it you are willing to. If you truly love your job you may be willing to give more hours to it. Hubby just quit his high paying 12 hr per day (really more like fifteen adding up the hours spent working at home) job for self employment. Now he will be creative and work 1/6 of the time - for less money (we figure about 40% of the income) but we get to have a life now and based on our frugal lifestyle it will work. I am going to do the same thing (just as soon as our current house sells as we are carrying two right now) and figure out what my passion is. Go with your heart.
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