Towards the Future by Adam Welker

Working a 9-5 job sucks your soul (?)

September 15th, 2011

Rat race.

The daily grind.

Soul-sucking 9-5.

Seems these days, everyone is fleeing from their day-job and doing their best to make it on their own. That’s incredible. It’s an amazing thing that the advent of the internet has made easier than ever. It’s possible to start a small business and thrive on selling art, words, information that helps people. These are exciting times, to say the least.

Though, something about this trend bothers me.

Why is everyone who sticks to their salary job viewed in a negative light? These “zombies” shuffle back and forth to work for the Man each day, and bring shitty fast food back to their overweight families sitting in front of the television.

Isn’t that a little much? I mean, I understand wanting to inspire people to change their lives for the better, lighting the proverbial fire under someone’s ass, but this is a dangerous slope to stereotyping.

Aren’t there happy, healthy, beautiful people who work traditional jobs that they love doing? These people have to exist, right?

There exists this strange dichotomy of the wage slaves vs the enlightened-freedom-seekers. People love to repeat the famous Fight Club mantra of “You are not your job. …You are not your fucking khakis,” but these same people are happy to define themselves by their profession; authors, writers, artists, philosophers. Can’t the chef, tech support guy, architect, business woman, and banker also pin on their own labels without regret? What if they are really good at what they do- they were born to do that thing?

Don’t misinterpret me; I’m not missing the point. I know most bloggers who scribe these posts are doing it for the people who feel trapped, who hate their current situation. They want to help; show them the way to a better future. But I can’t help but feel like the negativity sometimes extends beyond that.

Don’t look down on someone with a 9-5, maybe they really love what they do.

  • Tanja Hoagland

    Hey Adam,

    I really like your post. I’m one of those freedom from the job people, but I definitely don’t think anyone should feel badly for having a more standard job. I do what I do because I had a really hard time comfortably blending in with a corporate culture. I found more relaxed organizations worked better for me, like co-operatives and community access television stations. Then I finally got to the point where I figured out how to work really hard online and not have to have a regular job at all. 

    For me the trade-off is worth it, but it is a trade-off, and everyone makes their own decisions. I have a dear friend who doesn’t mind his job at all and figures he’ll be doing it for the next 20 years or more. I envy his ability to easily get his income. ;)

    • http://www.towardsthefuture.com Adam Welker

      Thanks Tanja.

      My thoughts exactly. You say it’s a trade off- working for yourself. It would be nice to see more posts on the challenges and struggles of that trade off. There’s obviously a lot of hard work between quitting your job and all of your dreams coming true. I wish people talked more about it.

←
→