General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why do we have to "Work so Hard" to make a living? [View all]Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Both genders wouldn't have it otherwise.
I am older, too. I was lucky in that I fell into an occupation decades ago that I happen to have a knack for and be suited for. Also, it turned out in the long run that I got paid more than I ever dreamed. Mind you, as a college dropout female from the deep south, I didn't have high hopes for wages.
I like it some days. Some days I'd like to walk out and tell them where to put their job. I am a trial paralegal at a large law firm in a large city. I'm worked like a horse sometimes. Sometimes I'm required to stay all night and work at a fast pace, doing the impossible, without sleep or food. I am single so my pets are at home not being fed or let out for bathroom. It is trying at times.
But I do happen to have a strong work ethic. This comes, I think, from being very poor when I was a young adult. Having hit rock bottom, I found a way to turn things around. So for me, not working meant going back to those bleak days.
The surprising thing I found was that it was such a good thing to find something that I was really good at. REALLY good at. I don't say I'm good at many things, but the thing I do for a living...I happen to be excellent at doing it. I found that it has been throughout my life a source of enjoyment, pleasure, self-esteem, and of course money. It has given me a retirement fund (something in my younger days I never dreamed I'd have).
To live a life and never find something you are really good at doing, that other people appreciate, and that YOU enjoy doing, seems sad to me. It is one of the reasons for living, IMO. A person's work isn't the only thing that's important, but it's one of them.
My point was...the young man (if he's a young man) - it'd be nice if he could find something to do that he enjoys. There will always be things about a job that a person doesn't like. But a lot of people don't dislike going to work, believe it or not. You go somewhere and do something that's relatively interesting, that you enjoy on most (but not all) days, and someone pays you thousands of dollars a year, plus insurance, to do it. What a deal.
Maybe it depends on whether you've not had that in the past, that you appreciate it in the present?