LazySundayAfternoon Posted December 8, 2010 Posted December 8, 2010 Hi. Well, the wonderful world of facebook has brought me full circle back to my old friends/family who I'm "slowly" getting back in touch with after not seeing them (in spirit) for the last 10 years or so. I realized, as I was updating my work info, I have 10 jobs in 10 years. You can clearly see that it is like a ladder... starting flipping burgers, ending at a 80-90k tech job. But, now I'm unemployed. I'm slowly working back "down" the ladder.. I feel, I reached my point of 'higher conscious' and I now know what I need to do: Get back to my roots. Find my old buddies. Learn to just "chill" and "kick back" again. (My friend jokes with me, that "kick back" is so 90's... what? Is there another word for it now???) But yet.. I'm sorta scared. I feel all my old buddies now see me as that one who.. due to their own self-esteem 'ran away' to be like everyone else, that I'm not real, I'm not genuine, and will I be welcome back?? Or should I even?? I mean, once you work your way up, you're supposed to either move laterally or higher, not down. It's tough.... All this I did in search of "love". I thought working and having a career is what the women wanted.. but yet, I knew for me personally, I felt much better in love and relationships flipping burgers.... There's a strange irony to it all. The ideal "love" is when you meet someone flipping burgers, and with that person by your side, you find the 90k job, to which you can now support her and your babies. But it's almost like, do you STAY flipping burgers until you meet her?? I thought, if it ain't happening, get the 90k job... then find her then. But, turns out, once you get the 90k job (if you're still single).. you are too lazy, have no time, and just lose your social spirit TO find her.... so you wind up alone with a 90k job. What a joke. I guess this is life... I just wanted to kinda vent.. not sure if I have a question here. Just want to hear your stories as I'm sure I'm not alone in this. Thanks!! *edit: sorry if this belongs in work/career forum. I'm confused as you can tell, the line between work/friendships has been blurred.....*
amerikajin Posted December 9, 2010 Posted December 9, 2010 (edited) It's all a matter of priorities. I think people in a demanding, high-paying job get used to the lifestyle and whatever comes with it, to the point that maybe they believe that they have all of the social contact that they need. I know I was in a similar situation when I worked as a trade association executive about 10 years ago. My job was traveling, meeting people, organizing and attending conferences...I would meet people all the time, so it's not like I didn't have social contact. The problem was, I didn't have social contact outside of that context. A lot of people in this work-to-death society find themselves in similar situations. If you're working 70 hours or more a week and have money to sleep in a comfy pad, what else does that leave time for? Even if you had a relationship, would working that much leave time for it to be a successful one? You'd need a really understanding and committed partner, and although I don't like to generalize, I find that many people just aren't that tolerant of someone having so little time for them. So you're left with a choice: job and financial security and no life outside of that, or a better balance that comes with less financial security. Edited December 9, 2010 by amerikajin
Recommended Posts