Things that make you go hmmm

[Xue Sheng]

Or at least it made me go hmmmm

They call this making a living? How many people have you seen that are more alive at the end of the workday than they were at the beginning? Do we come home from our “making a living” activity with more life? Do we bound through the door, refreshed and energized, ready for a great evening with the family? Where’s all the life we supposedly make at work? For many of us, isn’t the truth closer to “making a dying”? Aren’t we killing ourselves – our health, our relationships, our sense of joy and wonder – for out jobs? We sacrifice our lives for money – but it’s happening so slowly that we barely notice.

From your Money or your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

 

[Aikikitty]

I go to work tired because it takes me a long time to truly "wake up", but I come home tired from the day as well. But we all know, if we didn't work, we wouldn't have money to eat, place to live, extra cash to pay for MA classes, etc. Well, I suppose I can't say that as there is a HUGE wellfare community in my area, but I don't know how many "extra" things they get to do on my dime.

But there are a lot of phrases that seem ironic.

Robyn

 

[MA-Caver]

Well nobody would work if they called it Making a Dying.

I've had jobs where I'm all crapped out in the morning but psyched out by the time I head on home. Then I've had them the other way around too (more often than not).

It's really our own attitudes that determine how good/bad of a day we have as we make a living. The understanding that we are working towards a long term goal instead of the immediate self-gratification that so many today seem to hunger for.

 

[Hagakure]

Or at least it made me go hmmmm

Xue ol' buddy, you've hit upon a nail that's pretty close to me right now.

MACaver, also, very good point. Your own attitude essentially does determine to what extent you'll judge a good or bad day. I also think that environment will go a long way to influencing that, but yes, in essence, your post is 100% spot on.

My current role sees me going to work like a zombie, and returning home like a zombie. I think that, long term, it's not a career for me. However, as I've mentioned on another thread, my emotional state is pretty up and down right now, so I'd say, as MACaver said, my impression of my job is determined by my attitude.

For me, my job, and my continued participation in it, is primarily down to the prospects it gives us for emigration. If it weren't for that? I doubt I'd be here doing it.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I love my job, it's interesting and exciting and I work with people I like and respect and they reciprocate. My employer has recognized me for excellence and I'm deeply grateful.

Due to the economy, I had to move to where the work is - so I rent an apartment in Detroit, but my wife and family and my house are in North Carolina - I get home twice a year or so, and my wife comes up here twice a year or so. It's suboptimal, but we can't sell our house in NC in this economy, so what can you do?

However, we have our health, we are employed, we talk on the phone for an hour every night (one guy I work with say he and his wife don't talk for an hour a night, and they live in the same house!). I am content and happy.

Worried about the future? Sure, to some extent. We'd be crazy not to be. But life will go on one way or another. No point in borrowing trouble.

 

[seasoned]

Xue ol' buddy, you've hit upon a nail that's pretty close to me right now.

MACaver, also, very good point. Your own attitude essentially does determine to what extent you'll judge a good or bad day. I also think that environment will go a long way to influencing that, but yes, in essence, your post is 100% spot on.

My current role sees me going to work like a zombie, and returning home like a zombie. I think that, long term, it's not a career for me. However, as I've mentioned on another thread, my emotional state is pretty up and down right now, so I'd say, as MACaver said, my impression of my job is determined by my attitude.

For me, my job, and my continued participation in it, is primarily down to the prospects it gives us for emigration. If it weren't for that? I doubt I'd be here doing it.

I am also sick of driving my car everyday, but, it gets me where I want to go. Know what I'm saying.

 

[Xue Sheng]

For me, my job, and my continued participation in it, is primarily down to the prospects it gives us for emigration. If it weren't for that? I doubt I'd be here doing it.

Already said by seasoned but then you are already on your way

 

[Hagakure]

I am also sick of driving my car everyday, but, it gets me where I want to go. Know what I'm saying.

Sure do.

 

[MA-Caver]

I love my jeep cherokee... and driving to work going up Lookout Mountain with all those twists and turns and double backs... whoo hoo fun drive. :uhyeah:
Other than that... :idunno:

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

I always thought of modern work as an artifical means of gathering food like how an animal gets theirs.

The book Ishmael paints a better picture of that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_(novel)

 

[Raynac]

DX gaahh I hav't joined the workforce yet and you guys are making it sound like the worst thing in the world... makes my farm seem like a nice jolly place ^_^

 

[MA-Caver]

I always thought of modern work as an artifical means of gathering food like how an animal gets theirs.

The book Ishmael paints a better picture of that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_(novel)

Haven't read that one but thanks for reminding me that I need to. I read "The Story of B" and found it rather poignant and worth while reading. I was given a copy and then told when I was finished to give it to someone else so that they may benefit from it.

 

[Xue Sheng]

DX gaahh I hav't joined the workforce yet and you guys are making it sound like the worst thing in the world... makes my farm seem like a nice jolly place ^_^

It all depends on your choices and your decisions

A very good friend of mine is disgustingly happy in his career, he had two choices (offers) coming out of college; be a viola player for a symphony or play professional soccer...of course I was envious of his choices at the time…. But he chose soccer and now he coaches and manages a soccer center and is unbelievably happy....of course... I now hate him... but he's ok with that

 

[Raynac]

I think it would be awsome to get a job teaching martial arts ^_^... but i would need alot of students for that to be plausable. so im going to keep at my bachlor of science with a major in agricultural business. that should keep alot of doors open to me.

 

[grydth]

I love my job, it's interesting and exciting and I work with people I like and respect and they reciprocate. My employer has recognized me for excellence and I'm deeply grateful.

Due to the economy, I had to move to where the work is - so I rent an apartment in Detroit, but my wife and family and my house are in North Carolina - I get home twice a year or so, and my wife comes up here twice a year or so. It's suboptimal, but we can't sell our house in NC in this economy, so what can you do?

However, we have our health, we are employed, we talk on the phone for an hour every night (one guy I work with say he and his wife don't talk for an hour a night, and they live in the same house!). I am content and happy.

Worried about the future? Sure, to some extent. We'd be crazy not to be. But life will go on one way or another. No point in borrowing trouble.

Hey! My wife and I have a very similar arrangement... 801 miles apart to be exact. We, too, find ways to either get together or stay in touch (AIM, phone, email, cards and presents). A psychology prof at her university said that we, too, stay in touch more than those lucky enough to live together. Gotta go.... she is here now on an all too rare visit!

 

[grydth]

Or at least it made me go hmmmm

Well, nobody's gonna guess from this that you're a state worker, are they?
People who retire from our agency look 10 years younger within weeks.... hmmmmmm, indeed.

 

[MA-Caver]

How's this for something to make you go hmmmm... ?

"Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they're wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It's all in how you carry it. Pain is a feeling -- your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and try to hide them then you're letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel pain. But people fear death even more than pain. It's strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. I guess it's a freind...."
~Jim Morrison

 

[Hagakure]

How's this for something to make you go hmmmm... ?

That was pretty profound MA-Caver.

Me, as I've mentioned on another post, I may not be in my "stressy, un-enjoyable but very well paid" role much longer, and not through my choice. Maybe life's telling me something...? Feel kinda calm. For now...

 

[Xue Sheng]

From Zen Habits

There was a big city businessman who once went on holiday to a faraway beach. One day he walked past a local fisherman who was lazing around, with his fishing rod in the water, enjoying the sun and a beer.

The city man’s mind went to work immediately. The fishing spot was a gold mine, and a serious fishing business would thrive in the area. “Why are you so stupid?” he asked the fisherman. “Get some boats, hire some extra hands, and in a few years you will turn your little shop into a million-dollar business!”

The local man asked him. “And what would you do once you have a million dollars?”

The city man stared back blankly. “Why, I would have so much free time I could sit around in the sun all day and drink beer!”