Job — secure income or liability?

In the last shot, I talked about the blind human race we are all running. The most common form of that race, or rather one can say a stage in that race is known as ‘Job’. In this day and age if you don’t have a job then you are seen as a failure. Is that right though?

Coming to the context, a job does offer a secure and consistent income. However, in doing so does it become a liability? Let’s take this shot & find out.

What is a job?

Let’s see from the eyes of a common man. I’m not generalizing or anything, just taking the most common notion of the common man.

He is studying. Studying hard to land a decent or in best cases a government job, lol. Government job in our country is seen as the epitome of jobs. If you work for the government, society will put you on their shoulders. I wonder what’s the view like from there, as I never aspired to that kind of a job.

Basically, a job is nothing but a pedestal that offers you a secure income, and most importantly a status quo in society, depending on what kind of job it is.

Does it offer a secure income? Of course. But……..

Job — a liability?

We are at the precipice of our youth, just after finishing college. Our brains are ready to absorb all they can from the new world we are about to enter. But wait! Is it so simple though? Obviously not. There are constraints.

What constraints am I talking about? These can be your financial condition, intelligence, your parent’s dream, or your dream. Many more such things. All these constraints mostly lead you to ensure for yourself a consistent source of income. Thus, we go for a job.

It’s not a bad thing. We all need stability in our lives, nothing wrong with that. But in the vie of securing a job, we end up losing our own unique way. By our own way, I meant we forget what we dreamt for ourselves. Different aspirations each of us carried with us all this time, just to trash them in order to secure a monotonous job.

How does job end up becoming a liability?

As I mentioned earlier, we end up losing our own unique way. For example, my friend wanted to be a pilot. But as he grew up, he realized the practicality of life. Life is not all flowers and roses. Growing up, the chains of getting a stable life for himself bound him so hard that he didn’t even realize giving up his dream.

As I have said many times before in my past blogs, that life is nothing but a series of moments. These moments define how you, as a person, are actually living.

Now, when you get into a job, it’s exciting in the beginning. But slowly, gradually you realize that you are now bound to a daily routine that was decided for you by someone else. And why you can’t do anything about it? Because you are getting paid. This monotonous life of ours takes away the most special thing life offers us, that is, unpredictability.

Unpredictability is the gift of an unforeseen future. You avoid getting spoilers for any show/tv series you are about to watch, why? Because it’s in our nature, as humans, to seek the unknown. But when you enter a job, this is taken from you. You grind yourself again and again in the same wheel knowing very well that this is not what we call LIFE.

Words of an influencer

A friend of mine is a social media influencer and I’d be lying if I said she is not doing well. Ranging from fashion to public affairs, she is active in everything. I asked her a simple question — “Would you have done a monotonous corporate job over what you are doing right now? If no, then why?”

Here’s her answer — “No I would never choose a monotonous corporate job over what I’m doing right now. That’s not because it’s easier this way. Trust me it’s the toughest thing to do, to build your own thing from scratch. But I would any day choose what I’m doing right now is because of one simple thing: I know I’m gonna die someday so why not live to do what I want to do to serve humanity the way I want, not directed by any corporation and their agenda.”

See, she chose to explore the unknown and do what brings her joy. Even though it’s tough and competitive she is doing it because it’s her own unique way and she did not lose sight of it.

Knowing all this I’m still starting a job

I am starting as an IT professional myself. Yes, a job at a software firm. Haven’t worked a day in my life before. One can argue that I may have lost sight of my own unique way as I like to call it. But if you ask me, I’m still trying to find my way and what is my purpose in life. Till that day comes, why not make some money, after all, I’m not inheriting the Ambani family’s inheritance.

Now you must be thinking, what makes me qualified enough to lecture you about the pros and cons of something(job) that I haven’t even experienced. The answer is simple, I’m not qualified. But I think that’s the irony. I can actually tell you about a job experience without having one myself because of the unvarying nature of a job especially corporate.

I’m not saying all jobs are dull and boring. Just talking from a general perspective which is mostly related to our Indian society. That was all regarding a job from an Individual perspective. Now Let’s jump into how people around us, our friends and family, unintentionally make our job a liability for us.

Family

Our friends and family. People who care for us, or not. Well, that’s a mystery for the ages. Anyway, people around us especially for whom our job is providing. Say you have a spouse and a child. Now, just to make sure that they get a stable life you unconsciously chain yourself to the thought of securing a consistent income. As I said earlier, you forget your own unique way. Is it the right thing to do or not? I’ll leave it up to you to decide for yourself.

I guess I’ll be able to write a better article on this topic after I’ve experienced a few years of being in a job myself. Or so I think, LoL.

I’m still not sure how is it that something which supports us financially becomes a liability. But it does in some cases and we are forced to live with it. Still, there’s no definite conclusion on which is which but in the era we live in, money is second only to food, and food can only be bought with money, the irony.

It’s rough but what I’m trying to say is it all depends on the one who is doing it. How does he/she see it? If they think it’s a liability then it becomes one. But if they value money over everything even life, uhh, then not so much.