Go Hard or Go Home

I haven't written for awhile, and I have had this overwhelming and developing idea in my head for quite some time, I just haven't had time to write. I feel it necessary to write on Fridays because that was my original idea, so here I am, finally finding a free moment to do so.

For the last few weeks I have really started to analyze the words and thoughts of the people around me, in particular in relation to stress and hard work. I have been really bothered by the mentality of some people and I think it weighs heavily on me because I have a really strong work ethic. Ok so even though I am sitting here taking time to write this while I am at work, I thought this would be the perfect time because this is just the place for thoughts to come to me about this topic.

I grew up in a very blue collar family. I am the first person in my family (very extended family excluded) to obtain a bachelor's degree. I consider myself very fortunate because many of my family members did not have this opportunity. This has allowed me to have a "cushy" job as I would call it. My significant other and I, like many other couples, live comfortably but not extravagantly with the jobs that we have.

Growing up, watching my parents work full time and then go to their odd side jobs like working in retail stores, cleaning office buildings, installing HVAC systems, teaching aerobics classes, etc I have to say that it was VERY rare to hear them complain about their jobs or complain about having to work so hard. As I say this I think about my grandparents and great grandparents who not only worked all day, but had to go gather the eggs from the chickens in the morning, hang out all of their laundry to dry every night, and still at their worst moments they were talking about how great life is.

In today's world there is this major push for efficiency so that we can all make as much money as possible. A push to create gadgets and computers and machines that will make life simpler. I am not sure how I can call myself "old-fashioned " given that I am so young, but I hate it. I mean yeah all these things are really neat and I am constantly impressed that someone had the knowledge and ability to develop these tools, but I can't help but think that the things that are designed to make life simpler sometimes fail to do so.

Ok so back to my real thought...I don't think a lot of young(er) people know what hard work is. They want everything in life to be fast and easy. Every day I hear people at work complaining about how hard it is. I can't help but think my job would have been a lot harder 15 years agao when computers were not the standard, when everything was done by hand, when we didn't have all of these procedures in place to handle certain situations. But it really isn't even the technology and the idea of wanting things done fast and easy that gets to me the most, it's the complaining. Every single day it's "I'm tired" "I'm too stressed" "I don't have time for myself and family" "I hate my job" "This is just too hard on me" "This process is just too complicated" and it just gets ollllld. Sometimes at work it makes me want to rip my hair out just listening to it.

Jobs are jobs. Nobody likes to have to work. Sometimes things can't be made easier no matter how many times you try to change the process. A lot of the time if you fix one thing, something else will go wrong. These are my mottos. I also think that we might as well just suck it up so that we have more time to focus on what is important in life like loving, laughing, and remember that working allows us to have money to do all the things that we want and need to do in life and is just a fact of life. For now I am happy that I don't have to gather my eggs from a chicken or clean up other people's crap in an office building to make a few extra bucks...unfortunately some day I might.

Work hard, play hard.