As my first working term in Australia draws to a close, I find myself in multiple minds about how best to continue. I am now a well practised salad chopper – I have literally chopped and prepared salads for thousands of people over the past four months – and for the most part, chopping salads, making pestos, creating sauces and such like, has been quite OK. It’s not a vocation I would like for an extended period of time, but it worked for a little bit – I like the people around me and now I am done with it.
I often think of how much I miss the road, but then I realise that it isn’t the road that I miss. It is the way of life that I miss, the waking up in the morning and being excited for what the day entails. With the exception of precious few days in Australia, I haven’t found that for a little while.
After not having a normal job for around three years, it has been a dramatic change to come and do something I am not passionate about for so long. 70+ hour weeks were normal when I got here. What I realise though, is that it is not my job that is the enemy here, it is my way of life. I wake up in the morning, work for multiple hours, get a break to eat, walk on the beach, or send a few emails, then I go and work again. By the end of my next shift, it is around nine at night. I have a drink with my friends, then go all over again the next day. It’s a never ending cycle that doesn’t allow me to focus on things in life that really matter – it feels that my freedom has been taken away from me as I no longer have a choice about what I do. In terms of work, it’s far more financially lucrative to chop vegetables than it is to do writing and other such pursuits that I have undertaken in the past few years. But it is the creative pursuits that I enjoy. So what if I work for 1,000 hours and make 1,000 dollars if I enjoy what I am doing? I know how to survive without money and I will be happy. I make far more money chopping vegetables, but it is not the life I desire. So I make a change – in two weeks, I do something different.
Work is not the enemy. Working on something that is not driven by passion is the problem. Wake Up World posted a lovely quote by Rob Hill Sr that sums this idea up perfectly:
My goal is to build a life I don’t need a vacation from.
That is a life where I will work hard and push myself, but I will be passionate about what I do. Maybe we should all try to do the same. Because right now, I need a break from what I’m doing.
The featured image on this post was taken in the early hours of the morning on the coast of Japan. I part-cycled there from South Korea, when I was living on Jeju island. It was a beautiful ride and I was smiling.
As a therapist, it can be difficult to the point of dreading the arrival of a client who lives at these extremes and repeatedly sets herself up for failure by having unrealistic expectations of what she should be able to do. Using mindfulness in working with eating disorders is a radical approach and it s not a fit for every therapist or appropriate for every client.
I know the feeling. I’ve been there for quite some time, but luckily I was able to escape from that unfortunate daily routine and had decided to choose the path that really makes me happy.
This is what inspires me to go on with what I am doing (which is, traveling the world atm)
Great minds think alike Jamie…I know a guy !
May the road rise to meet you pal 😉
The same to you, my friend.
I feel ya – sharing this on my blog’s facebook page. Sometimes I don’t mind being in one place, but I always miss waking up to a day that I know is going to be completely different from the last!