When you crunch all the numbers in the world, odds are fairly high that whoever reads this post is not really satisfied with their chosen trade. Sure, the money is nice and the fact that you have material for a conversation if someone asks you what you do for a living is always a plus, but really, look at yourself in the reflection of your computer monitor and tell me you don’t wish you’d be doing something else with your life.
Some people might say that since economic times are on the withered side of business, that you have to make do with you have, that you have to settle, that you should just put up with it. It’s funny to me, because even when things are going good, the same set of advice rears its ugly head. Then again, the same can be true for people who seem to walk like some Broadway actor saying, throw caution to the wind, live life to its fullest and blast off carpe diem bursts of grandeur that prompt most people to ask, what’s in it for you.
That still doesn’t change the fact that a boatload of people aren’t happy with what they do with 8-11 hours of their week day. It’s almost as if depression has become a lifestyle rather than a condition. Something so common and typical that people marinate in their funk rather than do something about it.
Reasons for this general malaise in the world are as varied as the countries that inhabit the Earth, but one of the reasons so many people put up with it and conform, may have more to do with the control mechanisms available nowadays. The Internet, videogames, movies, and enough TV channels to stunt even the most gifted mind are just some of the mechanisms to dumb down people are keep them content because people who are entertained are a lot easier to control than people who are bored and have to stare at their problems in the face.
Think about it, how many times have you been frustrated or angry about something and to blow off some steam you have a beer, watch a game, resort to porn or blow the brains out of hundreds of computer animated characters. You dull your anger and dissatisfaction just enough to get to sleep and then you wake up and do it again. It’s as if people ignore themselves just enough to be functional.
Take some meds for that back pain or headaches, take some meds to make me not care, watch some TV to distract myself and voilá, ten years have gone by. But that’s ok, you’re a professional… you have a career, you mean something. People need you.
To dispel this myth, feel free to be absent from your work two days… get injured, get food poisoning, anything… just be completely disconnected for 48 hours and then we’ll talk about how indispensable you are.
Just in case, this message is not intended to depress or frustrate people further, it’s just a would-be call to arms to one simple thing: Imagine if you worked as hard to be happy as you do to be content. Imagine if you fueled your efforts to satisfaction rather than conformity. Why do I say this? Pretty simple, it takes a lot of effort for anyone to be content and if they put the same effort to being happy, good things would start to happen eventually. And by putting effort to being happy, that means working to do things you love rather than do something you can tolerate to earn enough to buy what you like and spend 3 weeks a year doing what you love.
I guess what I’m saying is that it takes the same energy to be happy or to be complacent, so why settle for the crappier alternative.
Cheers
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