"If you go to heaven without being naturally talented for it, you will not enjoy it there."
- George Bernard Shaw
"There is work that is work and there is play that is play; there is play that is work and work that is play. And in only one of these lie happiness."
- Gelett Burgess
What to do?
For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that I've experienced some career "challenges" over the last few years. In hindsight (which is not 20/20 like they say but rather like a slowly developing Polaroid photograph) I can see that the course of my career has been anything but a steady evolution. It has been a series of circumstantial adaptations based primarily on survival rather than joy. True, without survival there can be no joy, thus the reason for most of the choices. But what do you do when a job sucks the juicy shiny right out of you and turns your happy grapey self into a grouchy little raisin?
I need to pay my bills. I like eating and I like sleeping in a real bed under an actual roof. I like having an address. I'm working my ass off going to school. I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out a way to do something I love that wouldn't require a masters degree, because truthfully I just don't know that I can make it through 5 more years of school while working jobs that chew on me. And my student loan tally by the end of it all may comparatively rival the national debt based upon my current age and remaining years to work to pay it off. Neither one may ever be paid in full.
Becoming a hermit in the mountains somewhere has certainly crossed my mind but I don't think my kids would dig it much.
I feel like I'm being given a cosmic swirly. On paper, 'resume paper' to be precise, it looks like I've been doing nothing but going backwards. I once made more than three times the pay I make today, and I had the freedom to work fewer hours if I wished. Even with a masters degree I may never again earn what I once did. So why aren't I still doing "that"? Because "that" doesn't exist anymore, and it may be years and years before that bus comes back around. By then, it won't be my bus anymore.
I think there are a whole bunch of people who don't have a bus anymore. We're all bumping around looking for a way to fill our immediate needs, and also the ones higher up on the Maslow pyramid. When you were once on the cusp of self actualization, it's hard to slide back down to rooting around for food and safety.
There is great value in a life of simplicity. This is something I know without doubt. That is the place where I'd like to exist. What I've learned is that abundance and simplicity go together like chocolate and peanut butter. How can this be? Because abundance is NOT the same as excess. A life of excess is when the "stuff" is the show, and the show becomes the most important thing. A life of abundance is when you have more resources than you need and you create a life that does not threaten to exhaust those resources. There is more than enough to play with, but there is no desire to squander.
Simplicity and scraping by are not the same. I am currently living below the simplicity line.
What to do?
I don't know why I chose Beaker as the image for this post. Beaker seems happy, and wise, and quiet. He is an observer and a supporter. He is useful and dedicated. If I had to guess I'd say, most of the time, he is content in his work. And he makes me smile.
Plus he says "me-me---me, me, me" all the time and no one thinks he's arrogant.
Gotta love that...
WS
- George Bernard Shaw
"There is work that is work and there is play that is play; there is play that is work and work that is play. And in only one of these lie happiness."
- Gelett Burgess
What to do?
For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that I've experienced some career "challenges" over the last few years. In hindsight (which is not 20/20 like they say but rather like a slowly developing Polaroid photograph) I can see that the course of my career has been anything but a steady evolution. It has been a series of circumstantial adaptations based primarily on survival rather than joy. True, without survival there can be no joy, thus the reason for most of the choices. But what do you do when a job sucks the juicy shiny right out of you and turns your happy grapey self into a grouchy little raisin?
I need to pay my bills. I like eating and I like sleeping in a real bed under an actual roof. I like having an address. I'm working my ass off going to school. I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out a way to do something I love that wouldn't require a masters degree, because truthfully I just don't know that I can make it through 5 more years of school while working jobs that chew on me. And my student loan tally by the end of it all may comparatively rival the national debt based upon my current age and remaining years to work to pay it off. Neither one may ever be paid in full.
Becoming a hermit in the mountains somewhere has certainly crossed my mind but I don't think my kids would dig it much.
I feel like I'm being given a cosmic swirly. On paper, 'resume paper' to be precise, it looks like I've been doing nothing but going backwards. I once made more than three times the pay I make today, and I had the freedom to work fewer hours if I wished. Even with a masters degree I may never again earn what I once did. So why aren't I still doing "that"? Because "that" doesn't exist anymore, and it may be years and years before that bus comes back around. By then, it won't be my bus anymore.
I think there are a whole bunch of people who don't have a bus anymore. We're all bumping around looking for a way to fill our immediate needs, and also the ones higher up on the Maslow pyramid. When you were once on the cusp of self actualization, it's hard to slide back down to rooting around for food and safety.
There is great value in a life of simplicity. This is something I know without doubt. That is the place where I'd like to exist. What I've learned is that abundance and simplicity go together like chocolate and peanut butter. How can this be? Because abundance is NOT the same as excess. A life of excess is when the "stuff" is the show, and the show becomes the most important thing. A life of abundance is when you have more resources than you need and you create a life that does not threaten to exhaust those resources. There is more than enough to play with, but there is no desire to squander.
Simplicity and scraping by are not the same. I am currently living below the simplicity line.
What to do?
I don't know why I chose Beaker as the image for this post. Beaker seems happy, and wise, and quiet. He is an observer and a supporter. He is useful and dedicated. If I had to guess I'd say, most of the time, he is content in his work. And he makes me smile.
Plus he says "me-me---me, me, me" all the time and no one thinks he's arrogant.
Gotta love that...
WS
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