i hate my job

They say life is what happens to you while you are busy planning other things. Considering how everything goes on daily, I kinda agree to it. Between travelling to work, working, sometimes acting as if you are working, then thinking about work and then thinking about how to avoid work, there is hardly time left for anything else to do. Work does eventually become the all consuming factor, except on the weekends for those few lucky ones, but then most of us are generally too intoxicated to realize where the weekend passes and its time to crib about the same old Monday.

We had an Economics professor in college, who at one time seemed to love us being scared of her all the time. Besides being really strict, she also loved to make us right a lot and at times use examples of my not-so-discreet college love life/lives to teach demand and supply in class. For the three years we learnt under her, she told us one thing over and over again, "You don't know how cruel the world is outside this college. People are just waiting to kick you on your butts". As the dimwit bum farts all of us were, we took it as a joke. I really don't know what did the majority of the batch ended up doing after college; not so good at keeping in touch... but looking back at it right now, I do discern what she tried to drill into our heads.

Remember how eager you were to finish college asap, to get out of it and look for those shiny jobs and decent pay? Remember the wanderlust that you had to get a job which meant a lot of travelling? Remember being influenced by jobs characters had on TV shows and movies and how you desperately wanted to be one of them? I bet my ass and my neighbour's much hotter one that you are still there figuring out how to reach at one of these landmarks.

When your peers happen to be as the same day and age as you are, many of the conversation topics do steer towards jobs and careers and the future in general. Work is bitched about most of the times, and so are bosses. I realized awhile back that its almost like everyone around hates their work. I couldn't think of a single person who did actually like what they were doing. Case and point, I found myself in the same boat, bitching and complaining or whining (as my boss liked to put it as) about work. I hated the feeling... after being where I have wanted to be since college, the discontent was quite disturbing. And this time, it wasn't even because of another heartbreak, like the oh-so-many-times before; those are easier to solve... this I didn't really know.

As still the wannabe mature children that we are, I realized most of us are pretty short sighted. Hedonism pre exists in most of us; which is necessarily not a bad thing, but also makes focus hazy and vague. What makes it worse is comparison. Ironically, the grass is supposed to be always greener on the other side. And even though this discontent pushes one for better and higher, the foresight for the bigger picture is lost.

The last time I said I hate my job, the realization dawned that its time to stop. I looked around the desk and reflected on the year that has been; glanced at the people besides, those who are still unknown, some who animosity and some who tug at the heartstrings. Reminisced on the good times and then on the better ones. Yes, work does suck from time to time, but it didn't take much to remember that it wasn't so initially; saturation still hasn't crept it hopefully will never; too young and awesome to let that happen.

So the next time you think or say aloud that you hate your job, try this. You will probably remember how things always work out in the end; how they did when an exam wasn't prepared for or a plan didn't work out or when a trip was canned or when that oh-so-pretty girl broke your ego; in a weird karmic way, everything and issue did sort itself out. And though it does seem a wee bit tough to get that bird's eye view, it only becomes easier when you do so. As they say, after all there is always light at the end of the tunnel and beer at the end of week.