Are You Busy Making A Dying?
Do you come home from work at the end of the day feeling energetic and full of life? Ready to do all those amazing things that popped into your head during the day?
Not me, I get home at the end of the day and don’t have much energy to do more than be entertained by a screen. I suspect that is closer to the truth for many of us. Kinda ironic, isn’t it? They tell us we are all out there “making a living” but it sure isn’t my idea of life.
It’s the opposite of living, lots of us go out there and “make a dying.” Spend the best, healthiest, years of your life and as a reward you can enjoy the scraps the world hasn’t taken from you in the end. I have to believe that many people out there feel the same way. That feeling you have on a Sunday evening with a whole week of work ahead of you, or the most unwelcome interruption to your sleep when the alarm clock goes off for work.
I feel that way, or at least I used to.
Is this a typical workday for anyone?
- Wake up to the alarm at 5:30am
- Shit, shower, and shave
- Grab a cereal bar or a banana to eat on the way to work
- Enjoy a crowded and/or long and stressful commute
- Get busy doing the tasks that someone else wants done
- Buy a lunch because you didn’t have energy to make one to bring
- More running around doing tasks
- Fight the crowd back to your home
- Worry about losing your job, all these bills need to be paid
- See family for a little bit
- Be entertained by screens because you are too tired
- Go to sleep, have a nightmare about work
- Realize that nightmare was just a recap of your day
Is this familiar to anyone here? Is it any wonder that so many people are unhappy, depressed, and taking 3 different types of medication?
It was pretty close to how I lived years ago. I always wanted to be free from it, but I fell into the crowd. I just did what everyone else was doing, even though I didn’t like it.
But one day I broke out of that trance. I got back on the path I had started out on. I’m not free yet, I still have some crap to crawl through.
It’s uncomfortable breaking out of the crowd, but the best destinations require you to do so.
I think it is like being in prison, even though we are innocent. I liken it to the movie The Shawshank Redemption (@ezzy, tell me you’ve seen THIS one at least :D).
We have a choice to be Andy Dufresne, the person who chose to work towards escape or the institutionalized Brooks who was scared to leave prison and ended up hanging himself when he was released.
Andy is informed by another inmate, Red, about prison life.
"They send you here for life, and that's exactly what they take."
Andy was in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. We are all born into the system, we are innocent. But just because you did nothing wrong, doesn’t mean you can pass the blame for where you are. You need to take responsibility for your lot in life.
He meets another inmate who tells him he is innocent, but the bribe taking warden has been using Andy to ‘cook the books’ and has the other inmate shot. You can have a dream to be free, but those that are using you don’t want that. They are your warden and will shoot down those dreams of being free.
Andy doesn’t give up like many people. He comes up with a plan to be free. He continues to do as he is told, but every chance he gets he is working towards that dream. Using the only available tool, a tiny rock hammer, he manages to chisel through about 6ft of concrete wall over the course of 19 years. Slowly and piece by piece he broke through the wall that would lead him to freedom.
Even all the effort of tunneling through the wall only led him to another part of the prison. He had to crawl through a pipe of raw sewage for 500 yards to get out of the prison. There are going to be numerous obstacles to overcome, numerous yards of crap to crawl through.
He takes all the money in the accounts of the thieving warden and manages to make it to the beach town in Mexico, the efforts of his dream. Because he was focused and because he never gave up he got his dream, all the crap he had to endure has allowed him to be free.
There was one memorable thing Andy said to his friend, Red, before breaking out.
“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
Which one are you doing?
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Great point. i like to recommend Tim Ferris's "mini retirement" concept...every 5 years or so, take 3-6 months off and live...don't wait for retirement in old age!
Well, I am in the early retirement camp on this one. To me retirement just means that I get to do what I want to all day. That doesn't mean working is out of the question, just that it will be on my terms.
I may do nothing, I may work part time for 20 hours or less a week, or I might do the 'mini retirement' like you say and work full time for a few months and then be off for many more. Could be a combination. What I really enjoy is my side gig of selling on eBay/Amazon, so more than likely it will be that until it is no longer fun. :D
i feel the same...retirement to me is not abandoning work forever, but just doing what i want; sometime's that means productive things i find interesting, other times that just means enjoying some down time or non-econ interests.
Heck, I love me a day of PC gaming. But some days I go ham on a project that I had been wanting to accomplish. Others times it is to go find deals to sell for profit.
Work just gets in the way of these things. So I made it my goal to be done with it earlier than most people. Good to have a similar-ish minded person here too. :D
I feel most alive outdoors. I would love to be able to do that more but bad knees are keeping me indoors too much. I'm feeling kind of stale at this point.
I love the message of this post and had to reread the title a couple of times...then I got it....very clever.
I love, love, love the wilderness. I wrote a poem a few months back about what I am working towards. https://steemit.com/poetry/@getonthetrain/towards-freedom-original-poem
Lovely poem. And beautiful cottage homestead.
Oh man! Your words ring so true and it just goes to show that getting a handle on perspective and vision can eventually get us to where we wanna go. "Shawshank" is a great example of reference (which I've seen numerous times!). :)
I'm gonna bookmark this article for the next time I feel the psychological despair of everyday life!
Great stuff my bro!
Good to know you have seen Shawshank. I feel honored that you bookmarked this one! Are you chiseling out a tunnel for yourself?
Chiselling out a tunnel? All through the power of the mind, man! That's my tool of choice! :)
Great post mate.. Superb
Much thanks @ianstrat!
Sometimes I wonder, is Steemit the endgame? :)
Could be my friend, could be. We will see what the future holds. :)
Haha love the "this is fine" image. I'm making that into my wallpaper.at work. for virtual meetings :)
I feel exactly the same way, and writing is part of my attempt to extricate myself from this matrix. Thanks for inspiring and reminding us of why we do what we do.
Ha! Perfect.
As long as anyone is working towards an exit, I am all for their success :D
Glad to see you hanging out around steemit, looking forward to more of your posts RD.