Many years ago, when I was in my late teens/early twenties, I made a series of decisions that are affecting my life now, and I still struggle with them.
The first was to never work a job that I hate, no matter how much it paid. The job that I work now is electronics sales. Don’t get me wrong… if they didn’t pay me, I wouldn’t go there and do it for free, but you can ask my friends… it’s hard to shut me up about electronics. I wake up almost every morning excited to go see what new stuff we have in and talk electronics to the customers.
The second was to value time over money. As long as I had my basic necessities covered, I reasoned, I was doing fine. I like toys and stuff, but can live without them. I am also a freelance writer and have been convinced my entire life that it would make my living one day. (Frankly, at this point in my life, that’s beginning to feel like a delusion.)
I was always confused by people who had jobs making lots and lots of money and all of the toys that any kid could ever want… but no time to enjoy them because they were working so hard making money. I never could figure out why one would bother making money if one didn’t have the time to enjoy it.
And then there’s stress. Most people that I know HATE their jobs. They hate their boss, their customers, the work, whatever. They just wake up every morning DREADING going to work. Don’t get me wrong – I think that my job would be about perfect if my supervisor and manager would just leave me the hell alone and let me do it.
Which leads me to another point – climbing the corporate ladder. Is there ever a top to the corporate ladder, or do you just live your life striving for that next step, that next goal?
Now, at the age of 44, I still find myself stressing occasionally over money. It’s not bad, and it IS only occasional, but it does happen, and I wonder if I made the right decisions years ago. I wonder if I shouldn’t have sacrificed time for money and climbed that old corporate ladder? Of course, over the last several months I have watched friends who are at a much higher level than me either sweat or lose their jobs, while mine is secure.
I guess that ultimately it was the right decision. This was verified for me when I self-published my first children’s book (“The Cat and the Dog: A Fable”, illustrated by R. C. Troutman – if you’d like a copy, paypal $25.00 ($20 for the book and $5 for delivery) to dragonfoureyes@gmail.com). If I hadn’t made these decisions when I was younger, who knows if I would even still be writing. Of course, I think that if I stopped writing, I would go mad from the voices in my head telling me stories. As it is, if I don’t write for several days running, I can’t sleep and I get migraines.
Thanks for reading – I guess that I made the right decision.
Peace.
Randal
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1 comment:
Ah my friend, we are not so much different, you and I.
My short but sweet story essentially revolves around my boxing and choosing to try to major in finance instead of teaching.
If I had put a little more of myself, could I have had more success? Ultimately, not slipping a HUGE right hand made the choice for me. Did not rebuild my career after that effectively.
Had I decided to teach, then maybe I would have taken a different tack as well. I let life talk me out of trying to teach ...
I often wonder about what folks 'miss' in the pursuit of things as they climb the coporate ladder. I imagine that there are those who enjoy their ride ... but I see many more who don't enjoy their turn at the trough of material excess, let alone those who fall to the wayside on the way there.
Eh, I like what I am, and what I have got. I have liked my chances and come to grips with my choices. Some good, some bad, but in the end, all mine.
No complaints. Doesn't seem like you have many of them either. Having written that book, makes a big difference. It means you did try to grab that spot at the trough ...
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