Loving What You Do



Am in the office working late, doing some final day report roll over. My colleague is in the back office sorting out files most probably coming to join me sooner or later. I won’t mention his name, but for the purpose of this article, I will call him *Robert. He comes to the front office and he bangs the table, “I hate my job!” He says, with an unwavering look on his face. I pretend to have not heard a thing and I go about my duty as if nothing happened. He bangs the table again, much louder than before; a deaf person would have heard the bang. I pause for a moment and look at him waiting for his message.

“I hate my job”, he confirms. This time round, crystal clear. I stop what am doing and move close, and ask him politely, careful enough not to topple his momentarily delicate emotion. *Robert, why do you hate your job? I thought you earn almost thrice as much as me? “Walter, it’s not about the money, I just hate my job!” Up to that point, I have understood everything in all ways possible. I will use these two paragraphs illustration to create my article.

If you are reading this, the probability is you are either working, looking for a job or jobless. I am going to base my article purely on those who are working while wishing the rest successful endeavors. In my own understanding of the dynamics of life, survival is the prime factor for the human race. Death is an equalizer to all mankind, and the time between birth and death is the space occupied by survival. Much as we are living, some of us barely survive. And in trying to survive, the human race has devised the most sophisticated and strange acts of survival. In trying to explain some of them, I will offend a few souls, so I will restrict myself to the work environment.

Truth be told, very few souls are working because they need the money and not that they love what they do. The last time somebody got into a job purely based on their passion for the job is probably a couple of centuries back. My friend above, Mr. *Robert said it’s not about the money, he just hates his job. Sometimes, I wish I were him. May our good Lord forgive me; I only want to be him due to his salary and comfort. I mean, you come to the office adorning a nice expensive suit laced up in a slim tie matching your sleek morphology; you sit on your chair revolving round and round with an air conditioner above you cooling some nice tasty hot coffee placed on your right hand side. In front of you is a computer, fully connected to the world, with cascaded windows of various you tube channels. On your hand is an I phone signed in on Skype, probably video calling your significant other, aided by the free fully functional Wi-Fi the hotel provides. And you have the audacity to say you hate your job! Seriously!!! And mark you; I haven’t talked about the Pizza and French fries that find their way to your table every day at two o’clock. I hope I didn’t forget the Seven Up and tomato ketch up. Let me not talk about the Arabic dessert, it’s delicious, I know, but has no significant role at this moment.

Anyway, we all work to survive. Am not quite sure how many people in the job market love or hate their jobs, but all I know is, if given a chance to choose between your job and something else, half of the world’s population will choose something else. Don’t get me wrong, you are also guilty of this. We are trying to survive; some of us are handling certain jobs because it the readiest source of income, without which they feel like they will lose their lives. They hate the job, it’s true, but since they see nothing else apart from that job, they will hold on to it. May be it’s the reason why my boss banged the table. He tried figuring out how he could leave but to no avail.

Well, I mentioned earlier, it’s all about survival. The human race has to survive. I personally have dreams, and I have very big dreams for that matter. My current job does not get me any close to achieving my dreams. But I am comfortable, because I believe in the virtue of patience. Survival is the key word here. Am also trying to survive, am human too. But I won’t bang the table; I won’t say I hate my job. Hell No! It’s a bridge to the place am going. And one thing I love about bridges is, they will always connect you to a place your are deservedly going.

Life is not a rehearsal, and sticking to a wrong job makes it look like a script, you’ll always have to act your part according to the script, not according to how you want to live. We all hate control, especially if it has its effects on us, we will hate it more. We want to take charge of our lives, and being in the wrong job will deprive you of taking control, since you are there because you have to be there, not because you want to be there. But why don’t you pause for a second and be thankful to your creator for blessing you with a job you hate, rather than making you jobless. Try to think about the jobless people on the streets dropping their CV’s all over various companies. Try thinking about the hopeless people who have lost their jobs before it even started. Think about that person going back home right now with a retrenchment letter. I know it’s pretty difficult to, but I would rather we appreciate what we have while pursuing what we want.

It pisses me off that am not living my dream, but every day I have to thank God for the job I have. Back home, almost half of my country’s population is jobless. Some are living below one dollar a day. That’s why I have to thank God for my job. In my mind there are things I have always wanted to do. I have dreams too. There is a job that if someone gave me today, I wouldn’t mind waking up at two o’clock in the night going to my place of work and staying there till midnight. It’s my passion, but since I have a source of income, I have to be thankful. It does not mean I have stopped chasing my dreams. I am chasing them, every chance I get, I will chase my dream. I still insist, I won’t bang the table. If you find yourself in that kind of situation, please sit back; review your job against your dreams. Have a to-do list and a vision. Go back to your place of work and focus on your vision. It will definitely come to you, if you have the right amount of patience. If it does not come to you, go bang the table.