But don’t we all. Jobs are there to malign, bosses are around to be complained about. No job is perfect, we all settle in our lives, I should suck it up, take it like a champ, eat my Wheaties, collect my paycheck and be happy that I at least have a job in this recession.
Or, I could keep moving, keep looking. I’m training to be a Slow Sex Coach. I help people improve their sex lives, go after what they want, and stop settling for the status quo. And I’m pretty good. The clients I have are able to open up and make progress towards their goals, quickly and successfully. I am able to see their desires and be with them. And yet, I am clinging to the security of my job, not landing clients in the numbers I am capable of, and living in this land in between my desire and comfort.
Why am I still working at the job I hate then? Health insurance? The beautiful security of knowing how much money will be deposited in my account every 15 days. The ease of going into the office and spinning in my chair, answering emails for 5 hours is just boring enough to suck the life slowly out of the bottoms of my feet, but not so bad that I am physically injured. Not. So. Bad. I know I can do better than that.
I am convinced that there is a conspiracy to keep us in our shitty jobs with our mouths shut. It centers around an employment based health care system, a ridiculous puritan work ethic, combined with the pervasive notion that our employment is our self worth. All of these things, along with our own fear of the unknown and actually getting what we want, keep us locked in to the status quo tight. Add the promise that nice things and economic security bring happiness, and no wonder we all settle for the right now instead of searching for what is right for us.
I’m going to get up and go to work tomorrow. I’m also going to spend some time getting clients, trolling Craig’s list, and start moving
Hamza Tayeb said,
December 15, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Ouch. You really hit me hard on this one.
So true. I know that exact frustration of, “We all know this is ridiculous, but look how we participate anyway!?” I’ve been feeling that lately. How I huddle in the security of my job, imagining from afar the life I really want to lead, almost like a stalker having an imaginary love affair with a someone I’ve never met; some object of my obsession. “Just you wait, we’ll be great together, you’ll see.” *Shudders*
I’m not sure though about this line of “we all settle in our lives.” I think its just MOST who settle. Further, I think that very thought is itself a powerful element in the conspiracy not to live from desire. “Well, nobody REALLY goes for what they want, so I’m off the hook.”
There are those people out there, entrepreneurs, artists, leaders. Activists, authors. Spiritual teachers. Scientists. People on the forefront of whatever they do, chosen to push the envelope. I must believe that we can put every fiber of our being into what we do. Its just that its not necessarily easy or comfortable, or even generally approved of.
The conspiracy to be mediocre is much stronger. So, you have to be kind of a nut to live a full life. Because so few people are doing it. Does that mean those people NEVER compromised in their life? OF course not. They did it, then said, “Ok, this is all well and good, but I KNOW there is more. There MUST be something more.” And, as Seth Godin puts it, “The riskiest thing you can do is play it safe.”
boyd said,
December 23, 2010 at 12:20 pm
self employment is the only way to be happy with employment and an individual with autonomy, once you have your business going and you can say NO to a trouble making client – you will LOVE IT!
-voice of experience