Does Anyone Want to Work Anymore?

I don’t and here’s why.

It’s settled. You can’t talk me out of it.

Before you start shouting that I’m lazy, entitled and tell me what happened back in your day, hear me out. I am not saying that I want to lay on my ass all day living off my parents. No.

After 10 years of non stop full time employment I’ve come to realise it really is a trap. A life sucking, soul destroying trap that people like to overlook.

Life is about living and experiencing all it has to offer while you are able to. We are not here to be workers. Do you really want to work 40+ years to only enjoy your life after retirement? What if you don’t make it that far?

I’m not stupid. I know I can’t get away with not working and I don’t want that anyway. What I don’t want to partake in any longer is this 9–5 crap. We’ve all been conditioned to believe this is the normal (preferred) way of living. We are trading our time to help someone else earn money, to which we only receive a tiny fraction of. In most cases definitely not enough to cover our living costs.

It seems the only way to get on the property ladder these days is buying with a partner. The alternative? Grind until you reach a 40k job.

So much of our time is lost. It isn’t just the hours spent in the ‘office’ but the hours it takes to commute in and out of it. The time you need to get up each morning dictates when you should go to bed. We constantly sacrifice our time to what is required from our employers.

How much time do we actually get for ourselves!?

By the time the weekend rolls around you’re exhausted and the pressure piles to get all your errands and social obligations done and dusted in 48 hours. You probably want to catch up on sleep as well. And don’t even get me started if you have kids or are a carer. It’s ridiculous.

Furthermore the company you work with doesn’t care about you. They will replace you in a heartbeat if you don’t perform to their standard. Priority is placed on every ounce of productivity they can squeeze from you. God forbid you have issues in your personal life that may hamper their targets for that week.

If you were lucky enough to have kept your job during the the lockdowns you may have been remote working. We’ve all had a taste of what working on our own terms (kind of) feels like.

So with all this said we are going to see a lot of changes to the typical office work environment. Even if staff are still required to come in on occasion there will be more of a hybrid way of working…about bloody time.

You can see how much this can benefit your mental health. Not only that but you have time to focus on other areas of your life at the same time. I’ve benefited from being able to actually get decent sleep and incorporate healthier meals and exercise into my day. Most importantly for me is the extra time I have for self development. More time to listen to that podcast, medicate and read. My energy levels have been thriving!

In order for me to maintain this kind of lifestyle I’ve realised the very real need for multiple income streams. Not going to lie, I’m a little stumped to be honest.

Years of focussing so deeply on my career and ways to climb the ladder have meant that self development in other areas have been neglected. Beyond my job I have no idea what I would actually be good at or what I can offer others.

I’ve never been the type to stick something out and see it through. I get excited about new shiny things…a Jane of all trades perhaps. So it has been hard for me to commit and master one thing. I think the problem many face is that they feel they must already have a passion project. That’s where the annoying phrase ‘Oh, just do what you love’ comes into play. You don’t need passion though. All you need is curiosity.

My plan for the next few months is to have fun with it. Instead of being pressured to choose one avenue and stick to it I’m going sample as many as I can. It will be good to pick a few and trial them out. If I find that I’m still interested to learn more about something then I’ll keep going. If anything starts to feel like a chore and doesn’t align with me I can move it to the bottom of the list for now.

Finding something you like doing is key. You need to be able to enjoy the learning process as well because that is where you are going to find yourself the majority of the time. Once you’ve found it though get good at it. Then decide whether you can use it to help others. If you can then boom you’ve got yourself an income source and hopefully an exit from your 9–5.

We take for granted that we have the choice to change the direction of our lives if we so choose to. A 9–5 is not the only route and if it does not resonate with you don’t force it. You can wake up every morning in awe of how far you have come and what you get to do/experience daily. It will take time and effort to flourish. Often times it will be very uncomfortable. But nothing good ever comes from staying in your comfort zone.

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