Don't Quit Your Day Job
I was watching Hell Boy when suddenly something popped into my head from back in the old college days- (sing along with me if you know it) "Hail to the sun god, he sure is a fun god, Ra-Ra-Rasputin. From the depths of the murky waters to the bites of the bullets swift, from the welts of beatings long forgotten, arsenic fresh on his lips....."
Don't ask.
But regardless, it got me to thinking about survival. Not so much survival of the fittest, but more like survival of the human soul. (Not that Rasputin was a great guy or anything, but he definatly was a fighter) There are so many things in today's day-to-day grind that can slowly just kill the sprit. Little things, like mean words to each other, the slow torture of personal comparison with the Adonis's on the covers of popular magazines- And bigger things too...
Like "Day Jobs"
Day jobs fall into a specific category- these are not usually career jobs. Day jobs are those jobs you hold down for income while you try to focus on doing what you really want to do, like making art or music, or starting your own company. Most people who hold day jobs don't really care about that particular job, maybe they don't even like it. They are very rarely passionate about it, and if they do by any chance find a day job that they can be passionate about and love then we, the majority holders, are envious of them.
Day jobs do however have a certain purpose. The obvious one is money, but there are more reasons than just that. The people you work with at day jobs are unlike any people you would ever meet anywhere else. Usually, they are other people, also working day jobs- but sometimes they are "lifers" (and what fascinating people they are). You get to use fascinating and grown-up sounding words and phrases such as: "interdepartmental", "per your request" and "proposed agenda" - maybe you get to dress up, wear a nametag, possibly operate a deep fryer. Maybe you get to answer phones and have one of those fake "phone voices" or do data-entry, and attend boring meetings. Regardless, there is in fact a lesson here. You get to explore a part of yourself that you never thought existed. Did you ever see yourself here? Doing these things? Working with these people? Could you have EVER imagined it- or when you step back outside yourself and look in, does it shock the holy hell out of you?
I know my answer.
Do you know yours?
I actually envy people in career jobs. They went to school, got a degree, got a job, chose a career path and are on it. Working in an office behind a desk making one thing or another happen is exactly what they want to be doing. Strategy meetings and 401K's and 9-6 workdays. (Let's not lie, when was the last time you knew someone who EVER worked 9-5? It's just a song people.)
For Day-Job-People it's a bit different. We've chosen a career that currently doesn't pay the bills. It will eventually,(*shakes fist at sky* "IT BETTER!!") but until that happens we are forced to take whatever we can to support ourselves in the meantime. That old phrase "it takes money to make money" couldn't be truer.
And there are the obvious setbacks. Working a job that is not your chosen career eats away at the time you need to spend on your actual field. For artists that means less time to spend on your art, for those trying to start their own business it's time away from building client lists and honing your skills. Day Jobs also eat away at your energy, and in time- your soul. You know what you are doing is not what you want to be doing, but you can't stop because you need to survive. There must be a happy medium. There must be- but it's hard to find and takes gads of discipline. Somewhere deep inside there's a fighter in all of us- the basic instinct to survive.
Sure, Rasputin was evil. Sure, he caused the fall of the Romanoff dynasty. Sure, he sold his soul to Satan. Does that really mean he was such a bad guy?
Yes!!!!
But lessons can be learned from everyone- can they not?
I'm a fighter. Are you?
Don't ask.
But regardless, it got me to thinking about survival. Not so much survival of the fittest, but more like survival of the human soul. (Not that Rasputin was a great guy or anything, but he definatly was a fighter) There are so many things in today's day-to-day grind that can slowly just kill the sprit. Little things, like mean words to each other, the slow torture of personal comparison with the Adonis's on the covers of popular magazines- And bigger things too...
Like "Day Jobs"
Day jobs fall into a specific category- these are not usually career jobs. Day jobs are those jobs you hold down for income while you try to focus on doing what you really want to do, like making art or music, or starting your own company. Most people who hold day jobs don't really care about that particular job, maybe they don't even like it. They are very rarely passionate about it, and if they do by any chance find a day job that they can be passionate about and love then we, the majority holders, are envious of them.
Day jobs do however have a certain purpose. The obvious one is money, but there are more reasons than just that. The people you work with at day jobs are unlike any people you would ever meet anywhere else. Usually, they are other people, also working day jobs- but sometimes they are "lifers" (and what fascinating people they are). You get to use fascinating and grown-up sounding words and phrases such as: "interdepartmental", "per your request" and "proposed agenda" - maybe you get to dress up, wear a nametag, possibly operate a deep fryer. Maybe you get to answer phones and have one of those fake "phone voices" or do data-entry, and attend boring meetings. Regardless, there is in fact a lesson here. You get to explore a part of yourself that you never thought existed. Did you ever see yourself here? Doing these things? Working with these people? Could you have EVER imagined it- or when you step back outside yourself and look in, does it shock the holy hell out of you?
I know my answer.
Do you know yours?
I actually envy people in career jobs. They went to school, got a degree, got a job, chose a career path and are on it. Working in an office behind a desk making one thing or another happen is exactly what they want to be doing. Strategy meetings and 401K's and 9-6 workdays. (Let's not lie, when was the last time you knew someone who EVER worked 9-5? It's just a song people.)
For Day-Job-People it's a bit different. We've chosen a career that currently doesn't pay the bills. It will eventually,(*shakes fist at sky* "IT BETTER!!") but until that happens we are forced to take whatever we can to support ourselves in the meantime. That old phrase "it takes money to make money" couldn't be truer.
And there are the obvious setbacks. Working a job that is not your chosen career eats away at the time you need to spend on your actual field. For artists that means less time to spend on your art, for those trying to start their own business it's time away from building client lists and honing your skills. Day Jobs also eat away at your energy, and in time- your soul. You know what you are doing is not what you want to be doing, but you can't stop because you need to survive. There must be a happy medium. There must be- but it's hard to find and takes gads of discipline. Somewhere deep inside there's a fighter in all of us- the basic instinct to survive.
Sure, Rasputin was evil. Sure, he caused the fall of the Romanoff dynasty. Sure, he sold his soul to Satan. Does that really mean he was such a bad guy?
Yes!!!!
But lessons can be learned from everyone- can they not?
I'm a fighter. Are you?
posted by Kat Downs at 3:02 PM
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