Make Your "Labor" Count this Labor Day
I was talking to a friend of mine a few days back. You know how you've got some people who don't like what they do? You know how others really despise their jobs? He doesn't despise it; he absolutely, positively HATES his job. So the obvious question of course is why does he keep doing it? That's where it gets tricky for most of us.
Let's face it, the vast majority of us are not in our ideal job. Or at least not the job we dreamed of as young men and women in high school or college. A few of us have jobs we passionately love, and some of us have great work environments of supportive colleagues and friends and so we consider our job loved, but I don't think I need a scientific study to tell me most of us are working where we sorta "landed" after high school or college or however we found our way to the workforce.
So on this Labor Day, I'm here to tell you exactly what you'd think Mr. Mumbo-Jumbo Motivational Blogger would tell you, "if you don't like it do something about it."And of course your reaction will be, "I've got no choice" or "I've got bills to pay" or "I don't have a college degree and can't do anything else" or the myriad of other things you keep telling yourself to stay tied down to that job that sucks your soul.
Listen, I don't know your circumstances and I respect you enough to know if it were "that" easy, more people would transition and find jobs they truly loved. The truth is it isn't easy. The truth is, if you're the breadwinner in the family you feel a huge responsibility to those who depend on you not to screw up what you've got. I am exactly like you. I am the sole breadwinner in my family and the burden of keeping clothes on my family's back, food on the table and a roof over our heads is solely mine. So I get it. I mean I GET it.
I also get that we shield ourselves from our dreams by using the convenient cover of "responsibility" because it is easier to do that than the alternative, look ourselves in the mirror and tell ourselves we are not happy with our lives. Instead we move to the endless drumbeat of routine. We turn off emotion and go with the flow. We put away "childish" things like self-fulfillment, happiness, contentment, and joy. We replace them with apathy, anger and contempt. Have you ever driven in DC traffic? You better believe there are a lot of people who hate their jobs and lives there. It very well may be the same in your city.
Friends, unless you are independently wealthy or retired and well off, chances are you are still in the rat-race with me. You have deep-seeded anger and you don't know why and I submit some of that has to do with you having had to settle for whatever job came your way.
In high school when we weren't tied to the invisible societally-imposed boundaries of life, we dreamed of being CEOs and artists, singers and athletes, business-people and teachers, astronauts and scientists. We dreamed big because no one had told us we "couldn't" do those things yet. We believed with all our hearts our dreams were attainable. But as we grew, more and more people told us all the reasons why we couldn't do things and at some point, we jus believed them. The greatest trappings of adulthood in my opinion are the barriers we set all around us to keep us from reaching our ultimate potential.
I'm not professing you run out and quit your job tomorrow to chase after that dream of being the next Richard Marx (oh yeah, you remember that feathered hair). I'm not saying you should give up on your current employment to move to Hollywood. I'm just saying it might not hurt to dust off the old high school yearbook today and take a look at that kid you were. He or she has some lessons to teach you. He or she wants you to remember what you wanted to do when you could still do and be anything. That kid is begging you to give "living" a chance.
Listen, I don't expect this blog to uplift anyone to the point of quitting their job (and if so, please don't go suing me, I'm just sharing my opinions here). I am just saying, consider your options.
If you could do anything, what would you do? If money were no object, what interests would you pursue? If there were no barriers, what direction would you go? It is never too late to chase after your dreams.
Heck it might not even be your job. Maybe you genuinely like your job but still feel a void. Look for those outside interests which might give you the fulfillment you crave. Join a gym, take a class at the local community college, try out for a part in that community theater production, volunteer your time, go to that open mike night at the local bar and sing that song that's been stuck in your heart the last 25 years. Live your life. I bet more than anything, that kid in the yearbook will want you to "live." I do too. Because there is nothing more depressing than watching a world of mindless robots going through the motions of life but never actually living it.
Let's face it, the vast majority of us are not in our ideal job. Or at least not the job we dreamed of as young men and women in high school or college. A few of us have jobs we passionately love, and some of us have great work environments of supportive colleagues and friends and so we consider our job loved, but I don't think I need a scientific study to tell me most of us are working where we sorta "landed" after high school or college or however we found our way to the workforce.
So on this Labor Day, I'm here to tell you exactly what you'd think Mr. Mumbo-Jumbo Motivational Blogger would tell you, "if you don't like it do something about it."And of course your reaction will be, "I've got no choice" or "I've got bills to pay" or "I don't have a college degree and can't do anything else" or the myriad of other things you keep telling yourself to stay tied down to that job that sucks your soul.
Listen, I don't know your circumstances and I respect you enough to know if it were "that" easy, more people would transition and find jobs they truly loved. The truth is it isn't easy. The truth is, if you're the breadwinner in the family you feel a huge responsibility to those who depend on you not to screw up what you've got. I am exactly like you. I am the sole breadwinner in my family and the burden of keeping clothes on my family's back, food on the table and a roof over our heads is solely mine. So I get it. I mean I GET it.
I also get that we shield ourselves from our dreams by using the convenient cover of "responsibility" because it is easier to do that than the alternative, look ourselves in the mirror and tell ourselves we are not happy with our lives. Instead we move to the endless drumbeat of routine. We turn off emotion and go with the flow. We put away "childish" things like self-fulfillment, happiness, contentment, and joy. We replace them with apathy, anger and contempt. Have you ever driven in DC traffic? You better believe there are a lot of people who hate their jobs and lives there. It very well may be the same in your city.
Friends, unless you are independently wealthy or retired and well off, chances are you are still in the rat-race with me. You have deep-seeded anger and you don't know why and I submit some of that has to do with you having had to settle for whatever job came your way.
In high school when we weren't tied to the invisible societally-imposed boundaries of life, we dreamed of being CEOs and artists, singers and athletes, business-people and teachers, astronauts and scientists. We dreamed big because no one had told us we "couldn't" do those things yet. We believed with all our hearts our dreams were attainable. But as we grew, more and more people told us all the reasons why we couldn't do things and at some point, we jus believed them. The greatest trappings of adulthood in my opinion are the barriers we set all around us to keep us from reaching our ultimate potential.
I'm not professing you run out and quit your job tomorrow to chase after that dream of being the next Richard Marx (oh yeah, you remember that feathered hair). I'm not saying you should give up on your current employment to move to Hollywood. I'm just saying it might not hurt to dust off the old high school yearbook today and take a look at that kid you were. He or she has some lessons to teach you. He or she wants you to remember what you wanted to do when you could still do and be anything. That kid is begging you to give "living" a chance.
Listen, I don't expect this blog to uplift anyone to the point of quitting their job (and if so, please don't go suing me, I'm just sharing my opinions here). I am just saying, consider your options.
If you could do anything, what would you do? If money were no object, what interests would you pursue? If there were no barriers, what direction would you go? It is never too late to chase after your dreams.
Heck it might not even be your job. Maybe you genuinely like your job but still feel a void. Look for those outside interests which might give you the fulfillment you crave. Join a gym, take a class at the local community college, try out for a part in that community theater production, volunteer your time, go to that open mike night at the local bar and sing that song that's been stuck in your heart the last 25 years. Live your life. I bet more than anything, that kid in the yearbook will want you to "live." I do too. Because there is nothing more depressing than watching a world of mindless robots going through the motions of life but never actually living it.
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