Take a Breather

I have just completed a book which I relate quite closely to and for which I am aspiring towards.

It is about a an upcoming lawyer who was aiming to be made the youngest partner of a law firm. A trivial oversight of missing a filing date wrecked her career. Having an urge to escape from the world which was crashing around her, she took a train to nowhere and ended up in a picturesque village. Unintentionally, she undertook a job of a housekeeper. Although it was a menial job, she was enjoying herself. When she decided to stay on as a housekeeper after she was offered reinstatement to the partner of the law firm, she was portrayed as someone who was burnt-out or who was too distraught to make a rational decision.

For once, she knew when her work for the day would stop. For once, she had her personal time during weekends. For once, she was not an empty shell.

Last weekend, I came across an article about happiness. People are always searching for happiness. Some feel that having a job and earning their bread and butter will keep them happy. To the contrary, they are not. The writer felt that it was as if people were selling their happiness dirt-cheap when they were bound by a job in which they were not happy. The selling price of happiness hovered around $3K or $4K per month - the average salary of some people.

We are often so caught up in our work. We spend, on average, 12 to 14 hours per day, hurdle in our cubicle and in front of our PC. We hardly see the setting sun. Some of us even bring work home. Weekends may also be wasted clearing backlogs. Holiday plans are shifted and shifted to accomodate more and more pressing deadlines. We forego time with our family. We do not have a past-time. We dislike our situation.

How many of us can or have tried to put a stop to this?
How many of us are brave enough to abandon everything, including taking a huge pay-cut, to change things for the better?

We long to be wilful yet we are constantly bound by responsibilities. We thought that by advancing to a more senior position, we can get out of our current situation. However, the price for the more senior position can be longer hours and more personal sacrifices.

I hope that when the time calls for it, I will be brave to make a wise decision, just like the ex-lawyer in the book...