Being born isn’t really our choice, it’s just sort of thrust upon us. The beginning is so utterly shit; we don’t really remember most of it until a couple of years in. Then we just kind of do stuff until we die. However, that bit in the middle is weird and I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently. If you’re reading this, you may know that I work for myself. Most of my friends have real people jobs though, and pretty much all of them are super stressed and starting to show signs of aging despite us all being in our mid-twenties.
Obviously this makes me feel a bit superior, but really it makes me worry for the people I care about. It can’t just be work until you die? I understand I come from a place of relative privilege but I don’t think I’m being a yuppie asshole about this. You go to school, then university, then you work until retirement, then you just hang about and if everything goes according to plan you reach the conclusion of your existence. Earth is 4 billion years old; we’ve been around for about 200,000 of them but really civilisation is somewhere around 6,000 years old. All of this time, the billions of people that came before us, it surely cannot just be about working? I talk to my grandparents because they’ve figured it out right? Nope. To them, it’s still about earning money to buy the life you want. Maybe my parents get it?
They’re a generation younger and maybe because they didn’t come from a time when a house cost £200, they understand how fucked it is today. Turns out they don’t really get it either. What about my friends, peers of my age? Similar backgrounds, different backgrounds, rich or poor, turns out basically all of them think that the pursuit of money is the only reason to live. I’m not some radical anarchist though, and having studied this topic for a very long time I know there isn’t really a 100% workable solution, but I personally really don’t want to live a life guided purely by money. When I say that, I’m not suggesting I want to live in a van and own one pair of jeans. I mean working yourself to death 5 or 6 days a week to get a bit of money because you did a good job making money for someone else. I want to be earning enough to live a reasonable life; but even saying that has problems because what’s reasonable for me is most definitely not reasonable for someone else.
I don’t want to have to do something because of money, I don’t want to take on clients or jobs just to get money. Once again, I know it’s easy for me to write this which is why I’m not trying to make everyone live this way, I’m just trying to figure out what the point of this existence is beyond getting paid. I think that, within reason, humanity should enjoy life. There’s so much beauty in the world, and living without the pressures of modern society frees you up to realise that. Once you step out of the rat race, you can look back at the rats running about and see how pathetic it was. If you pull away from the illusion of wanting things that you don’t actually want, then you’re free to explore yourself and this planet (which is enormous by the way) without limits.
For me personally, this COVID period has been a great chance to do a lot of thinking, and I really have found that fulfilment can come from so many fantastic places that many of us neglect or think little about. Hobbies are a great example of this. Yours can be whatever the fuck you want, but at the moment I’ve delved into photography, cooking, and baking. Photography is brilliant as it’s helping to teach me about the beauty of the everyday. Learning about lighting and colours changes the way you perceive your visual life. Cooking is possibly my favourite thing to do. Why do people tell me I should become a cook? What is it with every hobby being monetised and turned into work? Not to be a commie weirdo, but come on are we really all just workers even when we’re not working (the answer is yes but let’s leave that topic of conversation for now). I don’t really care who thinks they’ve got the most important job I’m just saying that the ability to make tasty food is a great skill. Baking also falls under this weird rant too. There is no greater pleasure than putting a meal together and feeding other humans. Anyway, doing things for the sake of doing them is a good reason to live.
I think we should work enough to cover the life we want but reduce our ambitions to a level realistic for us, because most of us won’t end up becoming a billionaire. We are pretty much all just drones at this point so by setting your goals at a realistic and attainable level, you can reach happiness and you’ll be untouchable. I think society doesn’t like ‘dreamers’ and calls them so to belittle them. People are scared of these thoughts and rightfully so, but this is by design. If you pursue your true self then you can’t ever be stopped. I want people to write their books, start their businesses, learn those hobbies, and just do the things that they feel they want to do for the sole purpose of them wanting to do it. Don’t go round murdering people, we still live together in a society, but you know just be you.
If you don’t do this and manage to succeed at this weird game, one day you’ll be sitting in your big house with your gold watch and thinking about your amazing life of success when a thought will creep in slowly, and you’ll remember a time when you wanted to be a musician but one day you put the guitar down, and now you’re too scared to pick it back up because it’s been decades and decades. Then you die, and you can leave whatever legacy you want, but you’ll know you never actually did what you wanted to, never reached your true potential. The musician route may not have worked out the same way, you might not get your gold watch and big house, but you’ll be true to yourself and have lived a life that’s actually worth living.