Work is my escape…
What’s yours ???
There are times in life when everything becomes extremely tough in life. It is tough to talk to anybody. The life becomes so monotonous and pathetic, that it just makes you crave that escape, that happy place where you can forget about everything else. Some people use alcohol, some fiddle with ecstasy. some go into depression, some die and some just go on a trip to get away from everything. But, instead of all this, I chose work, or rather I would say that work chose me. Work makes me forget everything else, all the worries I have about the future and the issues in my current life. I don’t know, when did this happen. But, I have been able to block any kind of issues going on around me with my work. I could sit through a storm working with songs going on in my head and it gives me a feeling that it will be fine after that.
We think, that the greatest difficulties in our life are in the form of exams, getting a job, running a startup or growing a startup. But, according to me, the toughest part in life is managing relationships. We all preach democracy, but I can bet there is not one single family where everyone want to do the same thing or everyone has same thoughts/notions/beliefs about things. There are areas where a decision can be easily made, when the other notions finally did not seem as lucrative/sensible or someone agreed to comply and budged in(the ones we call as push overs). But, what if there is a strong fight, and no one is ready to budge because the stakes are high. At this point, only two things happen- people either drift apart, or it becomes a toxic relationship to be in. By relationship, I do not mean as lovers, but relationship with everyone — friends/parents/siblings.
I myself have been a pushover in many situations, rather most situations, because I did not want the volcano to erupt or did not want to hurt anyone. But with being pushed over, comes grief — grief to not being able to do the things you so wanted to, or the way you want to live your life. To all my issues, I always find my work as a solution. I want to make my work world so big, that any other thing seems as small as possible. This technique worked quite well for me and brought something good. With more work I did, I got better and great results, helped me discover some new arenas which I would never have. I accomplished some things in my life, which I thought, I never could. Work gives me a new world, a world where there is no bullshit, it is a playground where I give my best to win. There are times when I loose, and those times come a lot often. Those times shape a new me, a better me, a wiser me.
But there are times, when I want escape from my work because anything in access can actually become too much. I have not been able to find a place for it yet. But this time is very small, and most of the times the solution is as simple as working on something else/something more interesting. But, the more you work, you spend a lot of time with yourself and this makes you narcissistic. Dealing with empathy and narcissism together is a tough road. You are too empathetic to hurt someone/you are too narcissistic to let go of your own needs and wants. This is the maximum frustration zone. The solution for this again is work for me. Even if I look back, the amount of happiness I have got from working my ass off has always been much higher than i ever got with maintaining personal relationships.
I don’t know, how many of you ever had the same thoughts, same questions, same problems or not. Most of us, just deal with life as it is and just pass it by till we reach the end, and that is what I am most afraid of. Life to me, is a long trip where you meet a lot of people, face a lot of challenges. So, if it is unacceptable to us, to ruin a trip, because our money is involved, I think life is too short to be taken for granted.
It is easy for us to leave some situation, by simply saying that it is too expensive, and beyond our reach. Life would have been much more simpler, if we could treat our time and happiness, the way we treat our money. With the fear of digressing, I would like to bring you back to the topic- why work is my escape?(And why I believe it should be yours too ?).
The only and the most important reason is that work does not expect anything from you, and the more you spend time on it, you get rewarded for it, which is not true for any other thing in life, or rather any other escape you choose. Alcohol/ecstasy will take you down. People would pull you even lower. They will listen to you and then be happy about it or if they really care for you, then they would either make you like themselves or want you to follow what they say, but the truth is nobody else knows. The only way up is working your ass off.
Some might argue and say, they want an escape from their work life because, it is what is the issue. My only answer to those, is just start doing something else rather than finding your escape in something or someone. I may sound like a workaholic right now, but I believe movies are wrong, the only happy people in this world are those who love what they do and they do it like a workaholic.
I firmly believe work is the only escape(not even money)……..
