A Job is Just a Job

I don’t know how they got us to buy into this stupid notion of competing for better or worse jobs. Sure, some jobs pay a little more and Might be considered a bit more meaningful than others, but that doesn’t mean there are ‘lesser’ jobs.

We’ve been creating this habit since infancy on better or worse. But does that really do us any good? All it really leads to is being way too picky, having too many expectations and the worst of all, feeling we are either inferior or superior to others, which just means we create further separation. And we don’t even know this is happening, but we’ve been perfectly trained for it.

I totally get the whole “well if I’m going to work most of my life, it might as well be something I enjoy or that I get something out of”. I’m definitely on board with that too. But does it really have to define our identity so much? People look for their identity in jobs because deep down, we still don’t know who we really are below the surface details of name, age, look and personal history. So we think that getting the ‘best’ job will give us that security. It won’t. Or maybe it will for a little bit but that will change, either the job itself or your relationship to it, how it makes you feel about yourself etc. Then you’ll look for the next thing, which leaves us in a constant cycle of trying to find ourselves in the external world and always on some kind of hamster wheel. We have to recognize that we’re on that hamster wheel if we ever want to get off it, relax and really enjoy our lives.

Instead of trying to get somewhere, maybe we could give up all these crazy expectations and let life come to us and see what it presents us with. Almost always, if you’re surrendered, whatever life brings you can be grateful for and it feels like a gift because you’re not striving anymore. Life is coming to you and you get what you need. You let go of the steering wheel and realize that life is a better driver than you are. People might say “yeah but if I don’t try really hard, then I won’t get what I want and life will be mediocre and I won’t be happy.” This idea of mediocre is only an idea created in your mind by comparing yourself to others, which is an absolute cherry on the cake for the corporate world and their structures designed to keep us on our hamster wheels.

I can’t prove that surrender works and I’m not saying it’s easy - the ego will flow up with lots of resistance and this is where meditation can be your best friend. I can just say personally that when I began to surrender a few years ago, some lovely things began to happen and I wasn’t forcing or trying too hard. These things just came. I don’t think this would have happened in the ‘forcing’ mindset, as I probably would have missed these opportunities or else completely devalued them because I was chasing a permanent contract in an organization I didn’t even care that much about. We all do this. We want THAT job.

We need to stop looking for our identity in our jobs. Today, I honestly don’t really care what kind of work I get. I used to care a lot. But now I see that it’s all work, so it doesn’t really matter when you think about it. I’ve had some internships, some crap jobs and a couple of good jobs, and I definitely haven’t got completely where I wanted to get professionally, but when does that actually happen for someone? Or do they just keep going, which means you never actually get there. And then we retire and and are cast aside because we’re no longer considered useful in society. This is exactly what happens to old people, just look around. And then, even worse, we die and nobody actually cares what kind of work we did.

I’m not saying our work life is for nothing. I’m saying if we look at the bigger picture, does it really matter if we don’t get the ‘best’ job. If we want to make a contribution to the world through our work, great. But most people who do that are not defining themselves through their job. They are doing it from a pure motivation. Something higher is at work here than just the wanting and craving of the ego. It’s only the hurt ego that needs to feel better about itself through a job.

What I’m trying to say is be proud of your job, no matter what it is. A job is a job. Money is money. Work is work. Strip away the details and that’s actually what you’re left with. So who cares about a really stressful job? Fuck that. Relax. Enjoy your life.