A Curious Thought About Work…
It consists of the fact that in life, you must to do what you love. Ideally, you should make it your profession. Even if it brings the smallest of incomes, or no income at all.
Why is it so important? The simplest of reasons being that when you do something you love, you’re not working. And of course if you’re getting paid, there’s nothing more to ask! You only live once, and spending your life doing things you wouldn’t otherwise consider doing if it weren’t for financial compensation, is at the very least — strange.
I know, I know, every single person will find a thousand excuses to stay put… Most sound something like this:
But how can I make a living?
How? I have no idea — selling cakes at a market stall, or cleaning toilets, but there’s no need to resort to those. Because if you’re doing something with enthusiasm and at a high standard, you will always find a buyer. Any talent, or even capability, can be sold. Be it diving, writing, or even sewing. Even something as seemingly simple as driving a car. The only requirements are to love and blindly do, whatever it is. Soon enough, you’ll leave the toilet brush behind.
I can’t afford to do it, I need to feed my family!
To blame someone directly — parents for example — or disguise this as some sort of self-sacrifice is easier than anything. But remember that members of your family love you… your happiness and wellbeing is important to them. This means they will understand and support you in your decision. Or they will leave you be and find themselves something else to worry about.
I’m not good enough to do it!
If you don’t try, you will never improve or succeed. However, if you have the will — you can achieve anything you dream of, even that which seems impossible. Most likely someone else has done it before you. And even if you’re the first to climb the metaphorical mountain, the only way to get to the top is to believe in yourself. There are firsts all around us.
Gagarin went into space. Zuckerberg created Facebook. Fermi’s Interaction was deemed unprovable. Our world is not fixed! This has been said by people much more outstanding and successful than myself, so let’s not start philosophising — let’s accept it as fact.
It’s too late for me to change anything!
I will say only one thing — better late than never. Take Ives St. Lauren as an example. He first started designing clothes around the age of forty. I think we can safely say he’s caught up.
I work for money, as money is freedom.
This is the grand deception of humankind. It’s the most beautiful of traps. Quicksand. I have never seen people less free than those of high worth. Regardless of whether they’re working for someone else or themselves. As soon as you take ownership of something, whatever it is — a material possession, a person, or money — it will take ownership of you. The paradox is in that the more you own, the more dependent you become on it. Buy a flower to put on the windowsill and you’ve paid with a little of your freedom.
It’s sad to see people with money not having the time to spend it. Their jobs dictate their lives, there is simply no time left for anything else. They of course receive other wonders of life in exchange for their freedom, but this is a matter of choice. What is more important to you?
Ironically, you can’t make millions on something you hate. It’s impossible to do it well. So in the end it’s a job you don’t like, making an average wage, with no freedom.
I recently had a conversation with someone in this very position, someone who considers himself free…
“What would you like more than anything right now?”, I asked.
He replied that he’d love to drop everything, go to an ocean and spend a year windsurfing but … how could he leave his business for a whole year?
Round and round we went like a broken record.
After this, only one question springs to mind… what does your freedom consist of? The freedom to choose the make of your executive saloon?
This is the quicksand, your original aim will gradually fade away. Money will become the aim in itself, and pull you in. There are very few who can stop themselves, and do that, for which they wanted freedom in the first place.
So, if you’re looking for freedom, you need to head in the opposite direction of the banal earning of money. Free are those who can say without doubt; “I do only what I like.” This is the vocation that you would carry on doing even if you were told you don’t need to work.
Most importantly, work that you love, is something that will help you when nothing, and no one else can. It’s a horizon behind which you can hide from anything and everything. It is a path away from those most terrifying and saddening thoughts which, as a result of whichever circumstances, become our passengers in the brightest of days or the darkest of nights.
I had always thought that this shield is love. As once you have love, and a loved person by your side, nothing is daunting. Nothing is left wanting. God forbid you make love your goal, and you live the life of your loved one, without having one of your own. I agree with Brodski: “Fate is a game, but why would you so desperately bet it all on zero?”. Why would you bet your happiness on the dependency on another person?
I am not against love. I’m only saying that there should be more to life. Divide your heart between those you love, and that which you love to do. In an ideal situation your loved one wouldn’t become an inseparable part of you. They would remain a person in their own right. Someone who does not belong to you. I sincerely hope to escape the horrible disappointment of someone trying to take ownership of another’s feelings.
What happens if that person disappears? What if love isn’t the good in life, but the bad? What then? That’s when the need for another safe harbour becomes obvious. Another raison d’etre. Then, the work itself will give you a reason to exist and guide you past any terrifying reality.
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