Where has our spark gone to?

 

The grandpa of a friend of mine used to say “If work was a good thing, nobody would pay us to do it.” Even though a few of us are passionate about our jobs despite the ups and downs we inevitably go through, yesterday was one of those days when I couldn’t agree more with the old man.

We often come across sweet, inspiring memes from corporate gurus saying that companies would do much better by keeping staff motivated and happy. Yet, this is seldom the case. I’ve said in a previous blog that people seem to be only worth when they financially contribute towards a company. The moment they don’t for whatever reason, life at work becomes a living nightmare and/or they spit you out like an old chewing-gum.

I often ask myself, if all of a company’s workers are all working towards the same objectives and goals, then why does there seem to be so much discord? Why aren’t all the opinions heard and pondered? So many people with positions of power and management seem to feel questioned if a subordinate comes up with a better idea. Sometimes they say No just for the sake of saying No. No wonder most of us feel demotivated and, if we didn’t have bills to pay, we would definitely not put up with the shit we so often do. And we still get blamed if we lose our spark or don’t feel like taking part in team building activities, where, let’s admit, nothing but hypocrisy rules. Yes, let’s socialize with people who make us go through hell almost every day of our lives. So much fun...

When I chat to my co-workers, I realize most of us are in auto-pilot. Get task done, next, get another task done, next, and another and another. Next, next, next. There is no more feeling or inspiration. We're like sheep.

All this makes me think: why is it necessary to work? Surely the most obvious answer is “To make a living, nobody survives these days without money.” But the question is much deeper than that. I will ask again with a slight but very important addition: why is it really necessary to work? Why do we really need money? Why have we created a society where we spend 80% of our time doing things we hate to make money that most of us feel we cannot even spend on what we enjoy doing? What’s the purpose after all and why does it seem that only the hard, unpleasant things are paid for? I so often see people – myself included – who actually used to take joy in work, yet as time goes by, slowly lose their spark. What is happening to us after all?

I look at wild animals and even primitive people and cannot help but think that we, “civilized” humans, have imposed a ton of unnecessary crap on us. Wild animals and primitive peoples have all they need and they are possibly much happier than us. They find time to do all that they enjoy: they eat, play, sleep, love and definitely don’t need to impose unpleasant and unnecessary pain on them to survive. Possibly too, they don’t ask for more from life, unlike us who “need” more and more to be happy but never really feel satisfied. Our society has become one that cannot live with just the salt of the land. We are ambitious creatures, that’s true, which is fine because it gives us objectives and something to fight for. However, we are paying a very high price because the moment we achieve something, we immediately feel something else is missing and off we go again. This is how money enslaves us. We need it but we seldom have it in the right amount. We never seem to be able to do what truly sets our souls on fire. And unfortunately, we cannot survive in a money-driven society where we don’t get a cent for doing what we really enjoy. I wish I was paid for reading books or writing poems! And the funny thing is that I suspect that if I was, I’d probably not find it nice. Maybe we should make money disappear from the world. As good as it feels to have money, it also seems to me it makes us miserable. We work too hard, performing tasks that don’t satisfy us just to have the minimum to pay the bills and that’s it. We put up with people who don’t really want the best for their workers. The following month, same thing. And again and again. On top of this, we are constantly bombarded with adverts of covetous lifestyles that hardly any of us can afford. It’s like waving at a child with a nice toy but not really giving it to her. No wonder depression has become nr. 1 mental disease in the Western World.

I apologize for sounding so grumpy, sad and negative in my last blog entries. But I think you have already noticed this isn’t a fun blog and my humour isn’t exactly a slapstick one. Don’t agree with me if you don’t want to, I’m good with that. But I write from the heart. And my heart lately has been quite heavy. You know the saying “A wolf in sheep’s clothing”? That’s exactly how I’ve been feeling lately. But not exactly as you think... More like a wolf spirit stuck in a sheepish life.