Live to Play

You'd think choices in life would certainly become more clear cut once you were done school. 

The idea we're fed from childhood is to believe that life tends to take a linear pattern in one sense. We're born; we start school; we start post-secondary; we perhaps go on and venture into post-grad; we get a job; we get married; we have babies; we become aunts and uncles.... and so it goes. 

Or, at least that's what the hope is... but it's rarely ever the reality.

I, for one,  have never believed that life is linear. Mine certainly isn't... except for this one aspect. 

If you were to look at a graph of my life, measuring the personal and social, against the education and workflow, you'd notice that while other aspects "were all over the map," the education and workflow part would be steady. 

I have been in school for 91 per cent of my life. Yes, I did the math. It's been consistent from the start. At the end of every phase of my education, I've always known the first page of the chapter that followed. 

Until I got to the end of the most recent one -- the end of of my planned education. 

While I lucked out and picked up a freelancing gig as a web editor for a pretty well-to-do magazine in the city, I never imagined that my journey into the world of work and LIFE in general would be as big of a roller-coaster ride as it has been. 

I haven't had a steady day in months. 

Through all the tests and trials that I've endured since finishing school, I've learned two thing: you can never get comfortable at your job (you might be replaced in a flash); and the manner in which you get a job is not as clear-cut as guidance counsellors and recruiters might want you to believe. 

Entering the workforce after finishing school means constantly trying to prove yourself. Unless you pick up an entry-level job where you can steadily climb the rungs of the company ladder, for the most part, you will find yourself multi-tasking with work that you probably never imagined doing... or were never trained to do. 

I've finally come to realize the importance of "on the job training" ... meaning you're assigned a task and you do it to completion, only to realize you did it your way (the long way), when the company had a system in play that could have helped you do it in an hour. But you learn.

The goal now is to focus on the non-linear parts. I've secured something that can pay the bills for now... although the uncertainty is not knowing how long it will last. But in the meanwhile, I can't disregard the other aspects. Nor should any of you.  

I've come to realize how consuming work can be. I used to wonder about people who lived and breathed to work... some days I feel as though I'm one of those people. 

The trick, I suppose, is to find a balance and to realize that we don't live and breathe to work -- we live for breathtaking moments. Work simply allows us the freedom to enjoy those breathtaking moments with a little more security. 

xo

SC