“Modern” thinking says people ought to create a balance between “work” and “life”. I disagree, because it just so happened (under a combination of circumstances that has been unique in my life) that I realised how my philosophy of life in its entirety is different from other people’s. What’s more, I believe that both don’t play well with each other, which—whatever yours is—might cause you “not getting her/him”.
To the left there is the “classical” philosophy that your time is comprised of work and, or rather versus life. Yet as pointed out by Clay Shirky
And I wonder, how would you balance that? I mean, really?
There are so many counteracting “forces” at work the balancing act itself can wear you out. I’m not going into detail here too much (please refer to the aforementioned books for that, I really recommend them), but just consider the fact that 8 hours of work a day allow for 16 hours of recreation yet many people feel it’s insufficient. How come? How about all the media, the advertising, all stacked up to persuade you that your happiness is just that one thing you don’t have yet away.
It’s a carrot on a stick.
Now I would ask you to forget this whole concept of life for a moment and ask yourself: What is it that you actually do all day?
And I should add that if you are working in an actual factory, moving boxes around, adding or removing parts to and from a conveyor belt, and feeling comfortable with it because it provides a certain level of safety, this might not be for you. But these jobs are fading, though not completely. It’s only important to me to clarify even though your “workplace” may be organised like a factory (and quite intentionally so), it’s different from an actual one. Stay with me for a couple of seconds.
For all non-factory-labour jobs—and this includes farming, just so you know—I propose they are not much different from the rest of your day. You create, you educate (learn and teach), you connect, and yes, you consume. Sometimes you do two or three of these at the same time (not all, because I believe creating and consuming are mutually exclusive). And in everything, there is a certain opportunity.
There is little opportunity in consuming, I believe, because it’s self-centric and the best you can get out of it is either the pleasure of a good product or the satisfaction of a good bargain. But the gulf widens as the activity becomes harder, because educating, connecting and creating are a lot more challenging than consuming. Yet for connecting and educating there are some boundaries of opportunity (most of them physically). And yes, the opportunities of creating something (and that includes shipping) are limitless.
And for me, for the past few years, this has permeated each day of my life without me being aware of it. No separation between “work” and “life”. This is what I do all day. “Work” is only defined that there is a certain group of people in certain spots that are involved in these activities, repeatedly, and I receive money in exchange for that. The only restriction is that the choice of what you’re doing is not always up to you.
But in my unpaid activity time, I get to choose to do whatever I’m comfortable with, and quite unsurprisingly the things I busy myself with during that time are not much different.
This can create a rewarding cycle, an emotionally positive feedback loop for you. And isn’t happiness just that? (Yes, it requires work, in terms of daily effort. Self-complacent idleness will not make you happy for long.)
(And yes, I’ve shamelessly mimicked Hugh MacLeod‘s style for my graphics. Because I admire his art.)