I don't have a career that I care about so that might make me an outlier here (congrats to all of you who work in your chosen fields and kick ass in them) so I just never developed any feelings for the work I've done. Anyone could do the jobs I've had, as a consequence I've never felt any guilt over taking time off when I needed it or ju…
I don't have a career that I care about so that might make me an outlier here (congrats to all of you who work in your chosen fields and kick ass in them) so I just never developed any feelings for the work I've done. Anyone could do the jobs I've had, as a consequence I've never felt any guilt over taking time off when I needed it or just plain quitting when I didn't want to do them anymore. I certainly respect that Lainey, Sarah and a lot of you have great careers, you worked hard to earn them but some of us just have jobs, they pay us to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies, I cannot give something like that my heart and soul, so I'm certainly never going to feel guilty for the times I didn't do them to the best of my ability or just up and left, I was a cog, I'll never be more than that so they aren't getting my guilt. Nope.
Even liking my day job, they have my attention from 9-5 M-F, if they want more than that, they can pay overtime. I will fuck off on vacation and not think about work once. Work is not family, work does not love me, work will not care for me when I'm old. Admittedly, it took me some time to get over the work guilt, but it is so freeing to put work in its proper place--not in my top 3 priorities.
I care WAY more about what I do here with LG, I am more inclined to feel work guilt for LG, but Lainey would never put that on me, which is the difference.
I really wish I had heard more of this perspective growing up. There was so much emphasis on doing “finding your passion” and “doing what you love.” I think that gave me some unhealthy ideas about where to find fulfillment in life. One pandemic and professional burnout later I’m starting to care about work as much as the employer cares about me (that is: only as much as it’s useful to me)
I do not remember where I heard this, but I'm almost certain it was a Ted Talk, and someone said something like--"finding your passion" is a trap to convince people to put work first over family and personal enrichment. Some people are lucky enough to have jobs that they're passionate about, but most of us will just work for wages. There's nothing wrong with saying work isn't a top priority, there's nothing wrong with treating your job like what it is--your job. It's not your life or who you are. It's just your job.
I don't have a career that I care about so that might make me an outlier here (congrats to all of you who work in your chosen fields and kick ass in them) so I just never developed any feelings for the work I've done. Anyone could do the jobs I've had, as a consequence I've never felt any guilt over taking time off when I needed it or just plain quitting when I didn't want to do them anymore. I certainly respect that Lainey, Sarah and a lot of you have great careers, you worked hard to earn them but some of us just have jobs, they pay us to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies, I cannot give something like that my heart and soul, so I'm certainly never going to feel guilty for the times I didn't do them to the best of my ability or just up and left, I was a cog, I'll never be more than that so they aren't getting my guilt. Nope.
Even liking my day job, they have my attention from 9-5 M-F, if they want more than that, they can pay overtime. I will fuck off on vacation and not think about work once. Work is not family, work does not love me, work will not care for me when I'm old. Admittedly, it took me some time to get over the work guilt, but it is so freeing to put work in its proper place--not in my top 3 priorities.
I care WAY more about what I do here with LG, I am more inclined to feel work guilt for LG, but Lainey would never put that on me, which is the difference.
Can I get an amen up in here!
I really wish I had heard more of this perspective growing up. There was so much emphasis on doing “finding your passion” and “doing what you love.” I think that gave me some unhealthy ideas about where to find fulfillment in life. One pandemic and professional burnout later I’m starting to care about work as much as the employer cares about me (that is: only as much as it’s useful to me)
I do not remember where I heard this, but I'm almost certain it was a Ted Talk, and someone said something like--"finding your passion" is a trap to convince people to put work first over family and personal enrichment. Some people are lucky enough to have jobs that they're passionate about, but most of us will just work for wages. There's nothing wrong with saying work isn't a top priority, there's nothing wrong with treating your job like what it is--your job. It's not your life or who you are. It's just your job.
Yes! Sarah Jaffe wrote a whole book about this called Work Won’t Love You Back about the history of “find your passion” culture in the workplace.
There's that joke which I love: "what's your dream job?" "we don't dream of labor."