I had to stop and think. 'When WAS the last time I had written? Why has it been so long? Have I drifted so fully back into the 'traditional-workforce' that I no longer have the NEED to comment anymore? Does having a regular job mean I SHOULDN'T contribute to my blog anymore? Does anything I say now, have any relevant meaning to the experience of the unemployed, or newly re-employed? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that by continuing to comment I may accomplish several positive things, at least in my world.
THIS BLOG WILL FORCE ME TO BE CONSTANTLY AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING
1) In this economy, no job is as secure or as permanent as I may think. I could just as easily go in to work tomorrow and be let go after a few months as abruptly from my new job as I was dropped from my last job after five years.
2) The door of opportunity will NEVER open if I do not KNOCK! Loudly and repeatedly. I must continue to scour job placement resources for other chances to improve my lot. If I quit looking I will never find that 'perfect-job' (yeah, yeah, I know...it will probably not happen_
3) A 'job' is what I do to get by. Any position where I am doing something I don't WANT to do MUST be balanced with efforts to advanced opportunities towards what I DO WANT to do.
4) As an adult I have generally worked too hard for too little money for myself, doing things I don't enjoy, to either make money for OTHER people or to make OTHER peoples' lives easier.
The more look around me, I see this as an all too common trend in our society. We train and prepare for one career and life throws wrenches into the machines of hope we have built. When this happens we do what necessity demands - we compromise, we take what is given, wad up the anger and disappointment into that acerbic place deep inside, where it festers, sometimes for years, before it boils back to the surface.
This frustration emerges (in my opinion). ONE, you can give up, bend up and take it until you retire and die - being miserable all along the way - I have seen this happen to many, many people. TWO, you can direct this frustration towards the point where you 'work' becomes your 'passion' and your passion and effort can finally pay your bills, AND make you happy.
Yes, yes, I fully recognize that many people DO in fact have jobs they LOVE and that those jobs provide for their economic and personal happiness. But, my experience has shown me that these people are the very smallest of percentages.
So where does that leave ME in all this? I walk the line...that percarious line between the two, and I think being stuck in the middle is toughest of all. At some point in each day, I have to convince myself to stay on the line and look to the side of the work future that I WANT and not just to say 'The Heck With It.' give up, shut up, grab my gear, go with the flow, make the money, pay the bills, quit worrying about being happy or enjoying what I do, blah, blah, blah.
I have mentioned this to friends over cups of coffee, that I feel I was closer to doing what I want -- and making money doing it -- while I was unemployed! And that every day I continue working in the traditional-job, is making it that much tougher to walk the line and get to where I want to be.
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