While it’s true that a lot of us work solely to pay the bills and make sure we have a roof over our heads and food in our bellies, it’s equally true that some of us don’t HAVE to work as hard as everyone else.
For the ones who can casually drift between jobs, knowing that their future is safe, picking and choosing a career is a privilege. But it’s not a “career” choice when it comes to the person eking out a living packing fish.
Working in a state of permanently heightened fear of failing and losing your job does not make you productive. On the contrary, it makes you second-guess every move and decision, knowing that everything is at stake.
It’s even a privilege just to ask yourself, what would I be doing right now if I didn’t need the money?
Imagine if the dude earning minimum wage at the car wash is actually a trained orchestral flutist, or your local barrista spent years as Prima Ballerina on the world stages. Would you treat them differently if they had dreams?
The truth is, we all have dreams. Even the young mom fearfully facing a teen pregnancy had outlandish dreams she wanted to fulfil. So did the young man who joined the army to afford college and returned a quadriplegic.
She may never get to become the youngest Olympic gold medalist now, and he probably won’t make a giant leap for mankind on Mars, but their dreams are not for nothing, nor should they be tossed away.
If money was not an issue, would I still be doing what I am doing right now? Well, what am I doing? I’m currently writing for free with the intention of reaching just one person out there who needs to hear this message.
And I can afford to do this because my day jobs, plural, cover my expenses. But for a lot of people working minimum wage at multiple gigs around the clock, even this is not possible.
So if you have a few moments, ask yourself what you would be doing if you didn’t need the money for childcare, rent, hospital expenses, or food. And then plan for a time when you may get the chance to do it.
Life has a habit of constantly fluctuating around us. Our children grow up and our parents eventually die. Expenses we used to have suddenly disappeared and our money seems to stretch further than it did before.
Now is the time to invest in yourself. Buy that house. Do that course. Join that class. And if money isn’t the biggest issue you have right now, ask yourself what you would like to do instead. Then go do it, cos life is short.