Being retired should make every day pretty much the same as the next. This is not the case as Saturday is always special because we have a mind set that tells you that it is the end of the work week so get all that work done that you couldn't get done because you were at work. People always look forward to Saturday because they do the things around the house and yard that must be done. You are prepared to work until your muscles ache but it is not work because it is Saturday.
Francis Bacon wrote a essay on what constitutes work. He told of people in Old England who lived in cities and toiled at jobs that bored them but on the weekend they went to the country and did strenuous tasks for fun so it was not considered work but pleasure.
Today men and women who work in those crowded work stations cannot wait until 12 o'clock to get to their fitness center to work out. That is not work but pleasure although by any standard it is work to the onlooker.It is a happy marriage when your work is your pleasure. Many people find a career that involves efforts that would be considered pleasure to many so their work is their pleasure. These people live a less stressful life and it would be the ultimate goal for all of us who work for a living to make their work pleasurable.
I personally know people who worked all their life in a job that they hated and riled against at every opportunity. This negative energy made a poor job situation even worse. This stress takes its toll and the person suffers along with those who have to live with this unhappy person.
If every person who has this situation would put forth energy wasted in negative stress, to improve their outlook things would be better. Attitude is so important to cope with the stress of workplace challenges.
One man goes to work happy he has a job, and makes the best of it. Another man goes to work with a face of anger and hatred towards his work - and guess who lives the better life. There are so many jobs today that are boring and meaningless to the worker that people have to find ways of coping and making it better.
Ah work that is meaningful and pleasurable. We all dream of it, we all think it is experienced by somebody else. The truth is how much do we love something to do it whether it is profitable or not. A passion that turns a profit doesn't just happen. My daughter and her husband are singer/songwriter/musicians. They can't make a living just yet; but they stretch out and share by teaching, by recording and managing other talent, by making do without lots of other things. They are willing to do without that new car, that new appliance. Many people are not.
ReplyDeleteI think I have very fortunate in that I can count the days on my hand that I didn't want to go to work. I have always found pleasure and satisfaction in my job. When I couldn't find pleasure in the tasks, I found it in the people at work I spent my time with.
ReplyDelete