The following is a brief excerpt from "The Chronicles of a Hardworking Slacker". It's an email sent from the main character Madison Fox to her best friend and coworker, Kimberley Jacobs.
I believe we all have moments when we feel just like Madison. We don't want to feel ungrateful about having a job. At the same time, how much weight should we place on "being happy" at work?
From: Madison Fox
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 5:20 PM
To: Kimberley Jacobs
Subject: RE: RE: Question: KM Solutions Contract
Not funny. : ( And it’s not just a job. This is my life, and he’s ruining it. It’s hard enough getting out of bed every day to go to a good job. But when I’m trying to relax or go to sleep, I’m thinking about what happened at work that pissed me off. Then I get mad at myself because it’s my personal time and I’m thinking about work. I know that Richard isn’t losing sleep over all the things he does to me. When I wake up, I feel great until I realize that I have to come here. I just don’t even want to be here anymore. And don’t let it be a Sunday evening. My whole positive vibe that I felt over the weekend literally comes crashing down. I wish I could be grateful just to have a job. Especially now when it’s so hard for people to find a decent job that pays well. I’m not trying to be a complainer, but I just feel stuck, as though I don’t have any options. I’m really trying hard to be grateful. But being grateful doesn’t mean you have to suffer and just take what’s given to you … or does it? I’m thinking too much.
I believe that there has been a generational shift regarding our approach to work. With each passing generation, it appears that we increasingly integrate "what we do for a living" into our vision for overall personal fulfillment. In other words, more and more people view the key to their success as having a job or career that they truly enjoy.
It's interesting because when I was growing up, I don't ever recall my older family members discussing how happy they were to go to work. I think they were busy just trying to meet basic needs. Even if they hated it, they were happy to have a job that put food on the table every night. Happy to provide for their kids. Happy that everyone had a safe and clean house to live in. Happy that they could buy clothes and shoes for their kids. Happy that they could put their kids through college. The achievement of these basic needs was sufficient to ensure a certain level of happiness within them. The job was just a means to achieve these greater successes.
Of course we have more choices for jobs and careers now than our grandparents and parents. With significant advances in technology, and more opportunities for us to obtain higher education, society has evolved to embrace this more holistic approach to choosing a career.
The bottomline is that we spend at least 8 hours a day working either for someone else or trying to build our own business. So why spend that time feeling miserable and hating what you do? I agree. But I also say take care of your responsibilities. Be grateful for where you are right now, even if you aren't 100% happy there. When you have the opportunity to move on to something better, move forward. If you don't see the opportunities to progress, then plan ahead. Do you need more education, more experience, better contacts to network? Whatever it is, plan and continue to be thankful for this moment.
In the meantime, don't beat yourself up every second because you don't have your "dream job." We could all take a lesson from our elders and focus a little attention on the family members who benefit from us working, when we are in those difficult moments.
Tanya Michelle
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