Try to remind yourself that your job is not a place you go so that you can make money, to buy stuff, so you need more money, to buy more stuff. Don’t let anyone label you a “consumer” you are a human damn it! When people ask “what do you do” tell them “I ride my bike, I like to climb trees, I laugh with my friends, I like to splash in the rain” Tell them what it is that you “do” not how you make money.
Confucius once said “Pick a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.”
It is sad, and mostly true…in the U.S., we are distracted by our ‘occupation’ and/or how much ‘money’ we make, when often times, the experiences we enjoy outside of the day-to-day, are more of what defines who we are to ourselves and to the world around us. We, as social creatures, have incorporated ‘what do you do?’ into small talk to help judge ‘who’ the other person is. Maybe we ask because we are intereseted, or maybe we ask to compare our job’s caliber to others…if we, as a culture, can grow beyond placing such high importance on abstract qualities (i.e. how much one’s salary is) we can grow stronger in community and possibly begin to understand the depths of human existence.
Thanks for the post–it is a message well delivered.