We have a public holiday today, it’s called “Family and Community Day” – but it is the same day as the Melbourne Cup, so everyone calls it “Melbourne Cup Holiday”. Whatever. It’s a day off in the middle of the week – I’m not complaining about what it’s called if it means I don’t have to go to work!
I love those people who tell you to find something you enjoy doing and then find someone willing to pay you for it – then you’ll “never work a day in your life”. It must be marvellous to have such a simple solution for the daily grind. But are you like me? You have a job so that you can pay the bills, and anything more than that is a real bonus? Yep, my sweet husband refers to it as “we have a bank manager to support”.
Without want to sound too “woe is me” – I’ve never ‘loved’ my job, ever. It is merely a necessary evil. Like most people I dream of someone giving me enough money so that I would never have to work again, or more simply – I could work at something because I wanted to, rather than because I must do so to live. But, I have found that I gain a lot of satisfaction from making my working day as pleasant as possible. Things like – coffee, getting to know (and give a damn about) the people I work with, a reasonable physical working environment (which actually shows I have a life outside the office) and doing the best job I can of the tasks I am alloted. That sounds a bit smug and glass half full – but it is a conscious effort to make the best of things. It is very easy, isn’t it, to complain about work? But until someone offers me my dream job, or a tonne of cash, I will try to make the best of work – because the alternative doesn’t bear thinking about!