I need to remember why I created this blog. Meaningful work. Meaningful life. It's easy to get distracted by any type of employment when there's a need to fill that work hole -- and especially by the money that comes with it. Though the work I'm about to embark upon is interesting, stimulating and challenging, I'm not sure it would qualify as "meaningful" in the way I meant it when I started this blog. Getting to meaningful means getting to work - work, that is, that will help me to discern what will be most fulfilling for me as a person, given my skills, talents or willingness to go beyond them and acquire more. The reading that I've been doing in the Sinetar book suggests some exercises that I've yet to do. Reviewing my history and identifying the work or tasks that were most fulfilling to me - the kind of work that I got lost in and forgot myself. I can think of times when that's happened, but I need to commit it to paper (cyberspace?) and look at it critically and analytically and think about how I can direct my efforts toward the type of work that can help to recapture those feelings. Having said that, I don't think that there's any work "nirvana," where I'll be working in a state of bliss with a beatific smile on my face all the time, though I do think there's a happy medium, where I should be able to have the sense that I'm in the right place and the work that I have provides a strong foundation to support ongoing contentment overall.
On the other hand, I wonder if it makes sense to find work, or continue to do the work that I do, which is somewhat satisfying, though I'm not sure it contributes to the "greater good" according to the ideals that sparked this endeavor. If I go in that direction, and it can be lucrative enough to support the lifestyle to which I've become accustomed, and I don't have to work a forty-plus hour work week for the man -- then does it make sense to use what additional time I have to do the work for the "greater good?" Not sure.
Money. It can be the liberator, but it can also be the prison. It can create a laziness around altruistic ideals and an unbalanced focus on the pleasures that it affords. Meaningful work could mean a pay cut. That's something that I'm not totally comfortable with, but the reality is that there hasn't really been much "pay" in the last several months, apart from a couple of lucrative gigs.
It's a work in progress, this search for that which rewards with meaning in work. It's not going to be like instant coffee, but more like the tea bag that steeps in hot water and gradually reveals its taste and color. I need to stay focused on the search, keep my eye on the prize, lest I become distracted and find myself embarking on this search at some point in the future, when the business has subsided, age has crept in, rejection abounds and despair is deeper. If not now, when?
On the other hand, I wonder if it makes sense to find work, or continue to do the work that I do, which is somewhat satisfying, though I'm not sure it contributes to the "greater good" according to the ideals that sparked this endeavor. If I go in that direction, and it can be lucrative enough to support the lifestyle to which I've become accustomed, and I don't have to work a forty-plus hour work week for the man -- then does it make sense to use what additional time I have to do the work for the "greater good?" Not sure.
Money. It can be the liberator, but it can also be the prison. It can create a laziness around altruistic ideals and an unbalanced focus on the pleasures that it affords. Meaningful work could mean a pay cut. That's something that I'm not totally comfortable with, but the reality is that there hasn't really been much "pay" in the last several months, apart from a couple of lucrative gigs.
It's a work in progress, this search for that which rewards with meaning in work. It's not going to be like instant coffee, but more like the tea bag that steeps in hot water and gradually reveals its taste and color. I need to stay focused on the search, keep my eye on the prize, lest I become distracted and find myself embarking on this search at some point in the future, when the business has subsided, age has crept in, rejection abounds and despair is deeper. If not now, when?
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