We (us and hopefully most of our readers) are among The very lucky people. We have been given the opportunity to enjoy a really liberal Lifestyle. I had the good fortune this week to witness first hand how the other half live. I spent a week where I was dragged headlong into corporate oblivion.
It led me to realise that the vast majority of people living in Australia today have been robbed. The quality lifestyle to which they are rightly entitled has been taken away by stealth.
By a sleight of hand, a lot of people have traded their real quality of life for a supposed higher quality lifestyle.
What started this train of thought was a conversation I had on a plane on the way Home from Melbourne the other night. I mentioned some family friends. He and She both work for the same big multi-national. I made the point that I thought they were virtually ‘owned' by the company. Every waking moment is occupied with the goals and aspirations of a big company. For example, she has to get out of bed two hours before dawn every morning just to get some exercise. He simply can't.
In itself none of this is a big deal. But what got me thinking was the comment the person I was talking to made. She said ‘Where do You live? I have friends who work for the same company and are in exactly the same predicament' She thought perhaps they were the same people. It turned out they weren't but the coincidence is too remarkable. Two different families, slowly being eroded away by the same company.
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In parallel with this I spent a week, in fact the last few weeks (that's why it's been a bit quiet on here) working very hard for companies just like this. Hour by hour, day by day I felt my ‘mojo' being gradually drained away. The issues affecting the company's daily business slowly creep in to take priority over everything else. I was deprived of the opportunity to do the things that are important - family, exercise, and adequate rest. All the while fascinated to here the rhetoric about work-life balance coming from the same few companies.
Come Friday night, when the opportunity arose to spend some time with some really lively people, I felt I No longer had the energy. The whole thing culminated in a horror trip across Sydney in the car - normal Friday night traffic.
The process of getting ready to go out, the relaxation of an enjoyable meal, the exquisite foreplay of dancing with sexy people was like rising from a swamp.
So I thought long and hard, what was I rising from? It wasn't the self-induced fatigue of a hard workout or a long bike ride. It wasn't the necessary day-to-day humdrum of raising a family. Pure and simple, my work days had drained the mojo.
I'm not alone in any of this. My colleagues, my friends, and presumably half the 100,000 or so other people who travelled through Sydney airport the same day as me are suffering the same way.
In parallel with this we are bombarded with a constant spiel in the mainstream media about the pro's and cons of saving a couple of cents a litre off the rising price of petrol, and the affect of increasing excise on alco-pops, who is going to install our broad-band network. What about spending less time in the car. What about the reasons why young people self medicate with alcohol. What about getting the broad-band network in place so we don't have to travel so much.
At what point does the rhetoric stop and the real issues come to the fore?
Most people are drowning in an ocean of need and greed. They think they need stuff they don't really need. Indeed the whole purpose of advertising is to create needs in people that can only be resolved by purchasing stuff.
And that demands a high income. And so they go off to work in a job that uses up the most precious non-renewable resource we all have, time: The very time required to enjoy the things (most of which are unnecessary) they deem precious , and more importantly time spent with family and friends.
I recall some interesting statistics e.g. a bottle of soft drink: The plastic bottle it comes in costs ten times as much to make as the drink. The single largest cost component is the marketing that it took to make you buy it. So in effect you are paying the supplier to make you buy it - food for thought!
All this is leading up to another piece I want to write about the way our leaders try to distract us from the real issues ...
That is exactly why we are relocating interstate.
Spending more time at work than at home has become unbearable, particularly when you take out sleep. There is probably only about 4-5 hours to spend with loved ones. Most of that time is taken up with running a household anyway.
Fipty - that is the courageous move that I just don't have the spine to make. Where are you going from/to?
We/I've thought seriously about relocating from Sydney to the north coast of NSW. It's only work availability that keeps me in Sydney. About half of what I do during the day of it's nature has to be in Sydney. The other half could just as easily be done somewhere like Bangalow, or better still Nimbin!
The biggest impediment to progress for us is the poor internet service outside the major centres.
Plus I would really miss all our friends. I know - start a lifestyle community on the Nth Coast - what? it's already been done?
I have no balance sorry just bored and feeling daft!
Nope, I quite agree. To "book" any of my girlfriends for dinner we have to do it 3 months advance, diaries out... reminders given - i dont fucking bother anymore - too much hard work.
Luke used to be the worst workaholic - robbed himself of a whole life - I think i cured him but every now and again he slips back into work with a strange look on his face... almost like he enjoys it - I just pull him up and out to the gym or for a walk to smell what he is missing (ok it's the bedroom lol ) and all is well again.
so... my message is.. for MOST people they HAVE to work longer hours, bigger jobs and be away more because that is what their friends and neighbours and family are doing - keeping up with the Kones's and the family - strange way to live I think.
Well baby of the site speaks up. This is that very intriguing topic of whether it's worth working so hard, isn't it?
I'm almost at the juncture where I have to make serious decisions about whether I want to enter into a hard slog of a job or not - and I'm having a hard time working it out! The idea of being sapped of an enjoyable life really worries me though. I'm not sure I could ever commit to something that I know would definitely erode my quality of life.
Have to strike that balance I guess but its a difficult equation to work out when it's different for each person!
Come sit on my knee (sorry, couldn't resist that, not intended in a patronising way - more lecherous intent)
Perhaps the thing is you have to do both to appreciate both.
I don't regret anything I've done except possibly not meeting Paula 15 years earlier. Even that story would have a different plot had it occurred in the 80's instead of the 0's.
I think you got it Right when you mentioned commitment. The important thing IMO is to be totally committed to whatever path you choose, and prepared to accept that the road is full of forks.
Hi again pet - good to see you back in the land of swingers again!
Whatever path in life we choose,, it will always be hard to make things balance.
luke and I decided a while ago that the only way we could work our fun times, raise a happy family and be supportive to our friends and for him to run a business was to ensure WE were happy first!
If Luke and I are happy then the Kids and family are happy and if they are all ok work runs to order...
Yes things flip when Luke goes away but as soon as he is back life returns to normality again and very quickly.
So, when making your work plans keep in mind that work is work and fun is always just hiding.. it will be there all your life and all you have to do is look for it and make time for it.
Luke: haha I wouldn't blame you for being patronising seeing as you've already taken that speed hump. I try to keep the cold sweat-inducing fear to myself most of the time about work concerns because I know it's sssooooo boring
Paula: indeed! I'm pretty bad with my balance - or rather, I get balanced for 2 seconds, get too confident and fall flat on my face moments later. So jealous of the stability you both have!
The Centre for Disease Control has issued a medical alert on a highly contagious, potentially dangerous virus that is transmitted orally, by hand, and even electronically.
This virus is called Weary Overload Recreational Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from your boss, any of your colleagues, or anyone else via any means whatsoever
- DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your Private life completely.
If you should come into contact with WORK you should immediately leave the premises. Take two good friends to the nearest grocery store and purchase one or both
of the antidotes - Work Isolating Neutralizer Extract (WINE) and Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been
completely eliminated from your system.
You should immediately forward this medical alert to your friends. If you do not have friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.
The
- from the woman who knows everything 
sorry just bored and feeling daft!
This is that very intriguing topic of whether it's worth working so hard, isn't it?
The idea of being sapped of an enjoyable life really worries me though. I'm not sure I could ever commit to something that I know would definitely erode my quality of life.
Hi again pet - good to see you back in the land of swingers again!
So jealous of the stability you both have!