Work is actually a good thing. You know why?
A full time worker spends roughly half of his/her waking hours at work. Half? HALF? You mean to say that I'm wasting HALF of my life doing something that is stressful, not relaxing? Often frustrating? Difficult, not easy (at least not easy like my favorite leisure activity is easy)? HALF of my life is spent doing something that I really only do in order to be able to enjoy the other half? So HALF of my life is basically WASTED?
Yup. But, consider the alternative. There was a time when no one had to "work," at least not like we do now. What about humans that lived tens of thousands of years ago, before there was any kind of organized civilization? These humans were the same as we are today (sure, they may not have known that the earth is round or that everything's made up of atoms & molecules or what bacteria is or even what a written or spoken language is, but they had the same type of brain we have and they experienced the same emotions we do). Because there was no civilization, their only "work" was feeding and clothing themselves, and building shelter. And how much time did that take? Did it take half of their waking hours, like it does today? I doubt it. Maybe it took, I don't know, 1/4 of their waking hours; maybe 1/2 of the time it takes us. So they had twice as much leisure time as us, right? They had twice as much fun as us, right?
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Since there were no doctors or hospitals (hell, no medical science of any kind since there was no science of any kind), their lives were a lot shorter. So even if any given day had more leisure hours, they were given a lot fewer of those days. And what really could they do with their leisure time, anyway? There were no movies. No fashion industry. No TV, computer, cars, bars, clubs, money, books, restaurants, etc., etc., etc. They had none of the things that we have to help us enjoy our non-working hours.
So I'm convinced that while work still does basically suck, the system we have today is a helluva lot better than any which existed at any time before anyone was formally "going to work." Overall, because our lives last longer, we have MORE (and more enjoyable) leisure time than "pre-historic" humans did. We have the best of all possible situations. Who knows, if I can keep this in mind, I may actually stop complaining about work altogether and (maybe) even start ENJOYING it more (or at least start feeling more grateful for it).
From now on I think I should stick to short journal entries instead of long boring monologues like this one. Don't know if I will though... Oh well...long monologues may be boring for others to read but they're fun for me to write...which brings up a question: Is this journal for the writer, or for the reader? A journal is normally for the writer but this one is public...so who's it for? I think it's still for the writer, and also for anyone else who may be interested... 
A full time worker spends roughly half of his/her waking hours at work. Half? HALF? You mean to say that I'm wasting HALF of my life doing something that is stressful, not relaxing? Often frustrating? Difficult, not easy (at least not easy like my favorite leisure activity is easy)? HALF of my life is spent doing something that I really only do in order to be able to enjoy the other half? So HALF of my life is basically WASTED?
Yup. But, consider the alternative. There was a time when no one had to "work," at least not like we do now. What about humans that lived tens of thousands of years ago, before there was any kind of organized civilization? These humans were the same as we are today (sure, they may not have known that the earth is round or that everything's made up of atoms & molecules or what bacteria is or even what a written or spoken language is, but they had the same type of brain we have and they experienced the same emotions we do). Because there was no civilization, their only "work" was feeding and clothing themselves, and building shelter. And how much time did that take? Did it take half of their waking hours, like it does today? I doubt it. Maybe it took, I don't know, 1/4 of their waking hours; maybe 1/2 of the time it takes us. So they had twice as much leisure time as us, right? They had twice as much fun as us, right?
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Since there were no doctors or hospitals (hell, no medical science of any kind since there was no science of any kind), their lives were a lot shorter. So even if any given day had more leisure hours, they were given a lot fewer of those days. And what really could they do with their leisure time, anyway? There were no movies. No fashion industry. No TV, computer, cars, bars, clubs, money, books, restaurants, etc., etc., etc. They had none of the things that we have to help us enjoy our non-working hours.
So I'm convinced that while work still does basically suck, the system we have today is a helluva lot better than any which existed at any time before anyone was formally "going to work." Overall, because our lives last longer, we have MORE (and more enjoyable) leisure time than "pre-historic" humans did. We have the best of all possible situations. Who knows, if I can keep this in mind, I may actually stop complaining about work altogether and (maybe) even start ENJOYING it more (or at least start feeling more grateful for it).
From now on I think I should stick to short journal entries instead of long boring monologues like this one. Don't know if I will though... Oh well...long monologues may be boring for others to read but they're fun for me to write...which brings up a question: Is this journal for the writer, or for the reader? A journal is normally for the writer but this one is public...so who's it for? I think it's still for the writer, and also for anyone else who may be interested...
VIEW 24 of 24 COMMENTS
vlo:
yes yeah for quickies!!!!! 
lucylynne:
I love Halloween but they need to start putting some more halloween horror movies on television. I shouldnt have to watch bullshit all day on a holiday dedicated to vampires, witches, spooks ect. Last night was LAME, but oh well. least i was with friends! Hows it goin tonight?