Surviving The Fall, 46

I think that hating your job, at least sometimes, is just a normal part of life. I like to think of all the things I could do if I didn't have to work for a living: all the art I would be working on, and marketing and promoting and selling, all the extra writing, the lovely walks and hikes I could take, the better quality of sleep I would enjoy, and I would likely be broke, and maybe even homeless again, or if not, then just so bored, rudderless and directionless that I would be on medications and in community mental health care before you know it. Or that's what we're all led to believe. It seems to be the current mythology that we only do well if we are working for a living and there is nothing like retirement to send grandpa into an early columbarium. Very few of us have the luxury of being independently wealthy. Most of us will always have to work for a living. And almost all of us are going to be somehow dependent upon this creaking dysfunctional system we are living in, whether we like it or not. We are stuck with this. There are always going to be coworkers we are going to hate, or love to hate, and vice-versa. I don't know what I would do if I didn't work. I know that it is for my benefit that I am able to interact constructively with others in the community. I have seen what happens to people when they don't, and it is frightening. I think that we all have a love-hate relationship with work, and this is a reflection of our love-hate relationship with life, with ourselves and with the universe. Yes it does suck that there is no free lunch, that we have to sing for our supper and that our sweat and effort is going to pay for our keep, but that's the way it's always been. The idle rich, the landed gentry, kings, rulers and aristocracy, have always been a pampered and freakish minority among humankind and one has only to have a look into the lives of the Windsors in order to get a little bit of insight of how psychologically damaging this life of privilege can be. But it always looks nicer from where we are, you know, the grass is always greener over the septic tank? (apologies to Erma Bombeck). Even if we don't like our jobs (and often, we do not) we can't live without meaningful work. What is problematic is that a lot of jobs are meaningless. They have little or no socially redemptive value and in themselves they provide only soul-destroying work. This has to be addressed, but I think the real reason we have this kind of meaningless employment says a lot about global capitalism and how this has separated humans from the economy. Despite certain conditions and persons and policies in my job that I find a little bit onerous, I feel that I am one of the lucky ones. I get to participate in other peoples' journeys towards wellness and this is a huge privilege. I also get to spend a lot of time outside and out in the community and I take long and enjoyable walks, often in beautiful neighbourhoods, between job assignments. If I paid market rent for my apartment then of course it wouldn't be adequate employment, but I am blessed with BC Housing. If I were paying market rent I would have to be earning double my current income, and I can still afford extras, like foreign travel every year. It could be a lot worse. Still, in less than three years I retire. This of course does bring me that much closer to the death zone, but it also means that if I stay in BC Housing, then I likely will be able to quit working and still enjoy a decent quality of life. But then what will I do with my time? I'm sure I'll figure it out. In the meantime I have only 985 days to go.