What does work mean to you?
To make a living.
To be engaged in doing something meaningful to you.
A big part of your identity.
I think I spent about half my adult life working full and part time in paid employment. The other half was unpaid, which included being a stay at home parent and now a caregiver.
It was an adjustment for me and my identity when I stopped working in paid positions, when I was retired. Do we think more of ourselves when we have a job title or career, when we are being paid for our work? Then when it’s gone are we less than?
We find ourselves saying I was a this or that, in my prior life. It can be a big part of our self-worth.
And things are changing so quickly now. Many people have found it hard to find full-time employment and many are doing gig work to make enough money. Health benefits disappearing.
And here comes AI. It is predicted that the machines will take over many jobs, eventually could be all jobs. I heard Bill Gates saying on You Tube that the solution may be to let humans keep doing some of the jobs, at least for a while.
Humans will have to re-envision their lives.
Do you ever feel like you living in a science fiction movie?
Featured image Industrial Workers of the World Labor Day Picnic, Oakland, California, 1939 image from University of Washington Libraries Labor Archives of Washington State University via Wikemedia.org
I spent years working at jobs I didn’t like, so I was grateful to be able to retire. I rarely if ever bring up work when talking to people these days. Every single day that I wake up and get to watch the sunlight move across the yard I am thankful.
I am also thankful I don’t have to deal with the technology of today in relationship to a job. Things have changed so much, even in the 10 years since I last worked. I’m glad I don’t have to learn all of it..though we all have to learn some of it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I too appreciate that I do not have to keep to a work schedule. Or a paid work schedule. Now I have other demands so my life is not carefree. I had jobs that were stressful. The pace of change is hard adjust to.
LikeLike
I think the best advice I ever received was to “consider work to be the thing that finances your life, but don’t let it become your life.”
Oddly enough, it was a former boss that gave me that advice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It does not need to define you.
LikeLiked by 1 person