When people ask me, “Where do you work?”, “How do you make a living?”, “Why are you always on social media even though you don’t like them?”, “How do you find yourself?”, “How do you discover your life’s calling?”, “Where do you get the money from?”, and so on… I just want to show them the title of this article.
But they just shrug and don’t believe it. They start coming up with a bunch of “BUT YOU…”, “NO, IT’S…”, “YOU…”, and so forth. In their minds, a powerful defense mechanism against the truth kicks in, contradicting their personal experiences and the beliefs that reside in their heads.
They are convinced that work is THE PLACE you GO to in the morning (necessarily struggling to wake up by the alarm no later than 7 AM), where you battle the stupidity of your boss and the incompetence of your subordinates, trying to complete your tasks within the allotted time.
They believe that work cannot be loved, just as it’s impossible to love your wife. Both your wife and your job (your employer) must be respected and slightly feared. But you can love your hobby, or perhaps a mistress in the end.
They are sure that work means doing what needs to be done, getting paid what was promised. Work is where there is a salary. Work exists to receive that salary. They work for the paycheck.
They believe that a person who “works from home” is just another lazy person. And when they hear words like “freelancer”, “home office”, “online work”, etc., their faces wrinkle, and phrases and synonyms like “idler”, “loafer”, “they watch movies all day”, “is that even work?”, “go work instead”, “stop suffering over nonsense”, “they have rich parents”, “sleeping with the boss”, “probably starving to death” are born.
You haven’t seen people who are told that there are individuals who play games all day, record it on video, and… that’s their job. Their work consists of playing computer games and recording themselves while they play. Yes, that’s how PewDiePie lives and “works” (if you can even call it your word “work”), and by the way, he’s living pretty well.
You haven’t seen that there are people who… oh… have invented another way of earning money that differs from the conventional means. They’ve just run out of brains to find a way to earn money for food and a roof over their heads differently than going to a job that pays a salary. For many, this is a reason to dislike them indirectly.
You know, I don’t fully understand this anger and schadenfreude. Because when I worked a “regular”… I want to say “old-school” job, I was a terribly happy chipmunk. There was no one happier than me when I found my first job in a huge seven-story office, got my own workspace and position, a badge, colleagues, and plenty of work tasks.
My joy accompanied all my career changes, promotions, and achievements in these office races. And I liked it! Back then, when I learned about home offices or met people who worked from home, I thought, “Hmm… at home?.. Kudos to them, but I wouldn’t want that.” Back then, I didn’t want it.
I was curious and asked a woman who created an online web design agency, which she managed from her apartment in Moscow. All her “colleagues” also worked from home, all from different cities in Russia. I was just very curious about how her life was organized.
And at one point, when I started feeling uncomfortable in this office race, I decided to look for something different. And I found it. A home office—in that period of my life… turned out to be just right! I started to enjoy what was happening in my life again, and I became very interested!
But what’s curious is the reaction of people I encountered. It wasn’t that kind, benevolent curiosity that I once directed toward the owner of the online web agency. Negative comments started pouring in like “What?! Have you lost your mind?”, “You’re talking nonsense”, “Is that even work?”, “Stop suffering over crap”…
There are, however, a few friends who are my sweethearts; they are curious and support my endeavors in a good-natured way. And they are very happy in their jobs, the “old-school guys” )) Happy to be who they are and happy to have their own path.
I believe that this happiness in a person’s soul is the indicator of their reaction to everything else. When you have happiness, everything else doesn’t frighten or oppress you as much, doesn’t cause such strong stress, but rather evokes an acceptable, curiosity-driven positive reaction overall.
But when someone is angry and you’re there happily enjoying yourself, it rubs them the wrong way. It really annoys them! And that’s why they say all sorts of things…
