301. Finding the Keel of Happiness

Some people strike it lucky and like their job

Those who have a full time job may very well do some legitimate wishful thinking of not being so tied down; of not having to get up every blooming morning as soon as the alarm goes, of not having to dash out the door with a piece of toast in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.  But at the end of the day one is so grateful to have a job at all because those who haven’t, simply wish they had.

Not having a full time job makes you feel as if you have water beneath your feet and not earth.  You feel as if you are sinking into anonymity and are a complete social outsider: you are not a teacher, a waiter or a candlestick maker- you are no one at all, you have no social identity.

Surely there must be a way round this dilemma- as a full time jobber you want some of your life back- as someone unemployed you want to be identified as someone who is a significant member of society.

There are those of course who couldn’t care less either way, but they are a breed apart and hardly ever includes you or I because we care about us, which when all said and done I consider that to be vital for our own well-being.

It is not easy to analyze which situation is to be preferred or easier to handle, to be employed or not to be. I have been there and tasted the hardship of both, which in either case, none were of my choosing.

As a student, I could not wait to become a full-time teacher, have a place and identity in society.  Also, the financial security a full time job gives is no scoffing matter.

We try to choose a job which best suits our inclinations

When we choose a job, even the most dim witted amongst us will try to find one which is more suitable to our aptitudes and inherent tendencies.  Nothing would be more painful for someone who can barely sign their name to be put in an office to shift papers around- he may well do that, but without reading them.

But work is work, no matter what it is, be it a profession or cleaning public lavatories for the local Town Hall and sooner or later we want our own lives back.  However, in spite of the financial security which enslaves us to become even more dependent on a full time job, there comes a time in our lives when we simply have had enough and as I mentioned previously, want our own life back again.

Maybe we want to go and live on a ranch and ride horses all day- or shut ourselves up in a shed at the bottom of the garden, record a gold disc, paint a masterpiece or write the next best seller... and that bloody full time job gets in the way and blocks our dreams.

Does it really?  Of course it doesn’t but we would like to believe it is so- we know we are not going to record a gold disc, paint a masterpiece, write a best seller, because even if we did eventually manage to produce such wonders, who is going to take any notice?  Who is going to make them blockbusters?  As many artists and writers, Van Gogh died in poverty, painting over old works because he could not afford a new canvas.  And what are the chances of any of us of becoming best selling, blockbuster authors?

Does this mean saying goodbye to all our dreams and hanging on tightly to that nauseating full time job?

No, it doesn’t mean that either.  If you have the rent to pay, a car to service, food to put in the larder, then you really have no choice but to keep your full time job... but there are 24 hours in a day, not just eight. Even counting two hours getting to and from work, at some point, you are no longer fettered by your full time job and free to navigate on the waves of your dreams.

But instead, what do we do with our week-ends and free evenings?  Laze about and enjoy the utter beauty of doing nothing!

They call it self-fulfilment, but I prefer to label it self-gratification, which is something that most of us deep down seek from life- and it is this what you must do when you are free- without feeling guilty that you must write the next best seller or whatever.  Creating your masterpiece should not just be a pain in the ass, nor just a chore to get through... because if it is you will do humanity a great service if you leave it well alone.

Serving at a fair runs you off your feet, no time after that for writing best sellers

Aren’t I encouraging?  Well, I am really- think about it, after all have I not your best interests at heart?