Working Life

As most of you know, I do a lot of thinking about the workplace and how we all participate. I think a dream job isn't always what we think it is--we don't think in terms of WHOLE lives when we think of work. We think in terms of money, convenience, titles, or industry, but never about what kind of people we are, what our actual NEEDS are, and what kind of lives we actually want to live. I think this is what gets people into trouble as far as stagnancy, anger and boredom. We think if only I could work from home or quit cold turkey then all my problems would be solved! But work isn't the problem, ignoring the whole of who we are is. Acknowledging who we are doesn't necessarily mean quitting the administrative job to work in a gallery (although it could)--it means asking yourself, who am I? How do I spend my time? What are my basic needs from financial to the personal?


I've spoken before about how I would go from one extreme to the other with my relationship to jobs--working angrily full-time and then quitting cold turkey only to run back to a job a month or two later. (Lather, rinse, and repeat.) Living this way kept me blind to a number of things including that I was actually good at my job, and what ways having a job worked for me. Structure, schedule, the basics paid (so I am not freaked out on survival), health benefits, and people all make my life good. So does having time to do art, writing, and music. So does wearing jeans and dresses. So I found a job that could provide all that. I work part time at a place that literally provides for me--time to do my work, the basics, social life, benefits for both me and my man, and I can wear what I want. No more office clothes! All for 18-20 hours a week!


I read this fantastic interview today (from AMS) that spoke to this issue so clearly. I love this woman's attitude--she knows who she is and she works for a company who accepts this. As I read it I thought, THIS MAKES PERFECT SENSE. Not many companies are as accepting as Microsoft, which seems to me a TOTAL BACK ASSWARDS way of employing. I mean, how many employers can say that when their employees go home they say "Where I work is AWESOME"? Still, you can't wait for the workplace to create that atmosphere for you--you have to know what you want so you can create it and find it for yourself. It's out there, folks. I promise you.