Are You Happy Living The 9 To 5 Life?
Break free from the ties that bind you in the 9-5 grind!
I let go of my dreaded corporate day job to follow my dreams! When I tell this to people, I can see their excitement rise. Maybe I have met them in one of my “let your voice be free” workshops and you would think they would want to discuss this topic, but instead what comes up for these people are all their questions on how to get away from their nine to five jail sentence kind of jobs! How did I have the courage, the strength and the just plain get up and do it attitude to make it happen?
Less People Are Preferring the 9 to 5
This comes up quite a bit, for it seems today that most people in the working world are really not satisfied with their jobs, work environment, pay, etc. There are still some folks that truly love and enjoy what they have chosen to do for their nine to five employments, but it appears these days these folks are few and far between.
It may not be that these people are not enjoying their work. It seems that what the major concern is, is that they have no time to do much of anything else! What is the point of working so hard if you never have a chance to enjoy your time? After a complete 40-hour work week you get Saturday to relax.
But here comes Sunday and what do you spend that day doing? Maybe you have to attend to all your chores like laundry and housecleaning. Where did your time off go? Did you really get a chance to fully relax before it is time to attack the grind again? Yuck! Who wants to live like that? When do you get to laugh with your family or joke with your friends? You have to have a chance to laugh!
A typical Monday to Friday work week:
- Oh Crap! There is that alarm! Damn I have to get up!
- Here we go….time to sit in a big traffic jam
- Am I even breathing here at work?
- I’m so worn out…what do you mean I have to cook? Where’s that ready made not so good for me dinner?
- Oh…good here is the TV to numb out in front of, for how could I even think of getting out there on the town when I am so worn out?
- I’m heading off to sleep so much later than I should.
- Get up and do it again, and again, and again..etc.
Is this how we are supposed to live?
Now let us consider for a moment what human beings used to do and how they used to live hundreds and thousands of years ago. What were we required to do to survive? Two simple things, hunt and gather our food, and procreate. Once you had found plenty of nourishment to feed your people, you could then have the chance to rest and do other things to make yourself happy! There would be no boss hanging over your head demanding that you work, work, work till the clock struck FIVE!
When you look at an average American and their average work week, you will see most work around 45—50 hours a week! Their time off consists of only around 17 days per each calendar year! Let us look at folks that live in let’s say Europe. They have the chance to take at least seven weeks of time off each year and four of those are demanded by the law!!!
This nine to five program is one that was manufactured somewhere in our recent history. Did this occur because of the Industrial Revolution? When and why did we buy into this and see it as the way “things have to be?”
So, since we made it, does it also seem possible that we could crush it?
Have you heard the terms. Bigger, better, faster, more? MORE, MORE, MORE!!
What is it your truly need? How many of us truly enjoy the nine to five way of living and making money? What is keeping you from exploring something different?
Some people say that that which we possess, possess’ us. In simpler terms, our belongings own us. Here’s an example. If your fear of not having a car is limiting you from letting go of the grind, then really in all actuality, that car owns you!
What is holding you back?
And…what is the truth here? Is it, your possessions or your health? Which is truly more important? How can you enjoy your possessions if you aren’t living healthy?
Sometimes we will feel that choosing to think with our heart’s instead of our head’s is hard. This is true. It can be downright scary to contemplate stepping out of the norm. There can be little structure and who knows where the money is gonna come from? I’m sorry, but isn’t it worth far more to follow that which makes me smile and my heart sing, than to not? Completely!
You might ask whatever for?! I believe it is because I get to hold the reigns of my own life. I am living my life by my rules and by my own purpose. It is not required for me to slave away and be miserable to show and explain that my life means something!
I watch my very own mother, who gave up a good corporate job to follow her heart. Her health improved, not to mention her attitude, and so did her income!
Do you really want to listen to all those folks who say…look she invested so much into her corporate life to just throw it all away. Are they living your life? There is no reason to follow the flock!
If you are anything like me, you can feel your skin needing to stretch to accommodate your growing! Your soul demanding you to take a new road…Please don’t ignore this cry… Really…What will you lose? More importantly, what will you gain?
I am a college student who just read Rich Dad Poor Dad this week. The book brought up what you are talking about and got me thinking a lot about what I want to do with my life. And what you are talking about is one of my single biggest fears in life, getting caught in the grind.
I worked as a dishwasher for a few months and I hatted it, I know I am going to be unhappy if I get caught in the Rat Race when I get out of college. I resonate with what you are talking about and it drives me to find financial independence so that I can enjoy my life my way.
I have heard a lot of good things about that book. I better get a copy and check it out. If you want to be out of the rat race you have to have the right mindset followed with goals that might even make you nervous or uncomfortable. I highly recommend checking out Bob Proctor. He explains it very well how to get out of the paradigm that keeps you from getting what you want in life. I now have multiple sources of income and I am financially free but I wish I would have learned how to do this when I was your age. Good luck Preston!
Shaun