In the movie Inception (if you haven't seen it, you are missing out my friend), Nolan uses a kick to wake people from their dreams. Your first job can be the kick for you. Right through high school and college, we dream. The world seems to be our kitty. There is someone to take care of us. Some of us have the independence of hostel life where you can do what you want without being told off. Every month, you get a pocket allowance enough to take care of your pizzas and your phone bills. If your parents are generous, you don't need to worry how much you are spending. You never sit back to feel the weight of the penny in your pocket. At the same time, you look forward to start working, being financially independent. Towards the end of your college, you start dreaming about the kind of house you will rent (if you have to stay away from your hometown ofcourse). You might even have planned your first vehicle. And, you imagined a world where money would not hold you back from pursuing your middle-class aspirations.
And then, when you start working, you get the kick. You are invariably thrust in a hostile environment on your own, totally out of the comfort zone. You look out for familiar faces and suddenly start realizing the importance of family and friends. You begin to realize that you have responsibilities. You actually start planning your budgets and investments. You realize you need to change your food habits, your sleep cycle. Night outs start looking risky. You can't be late anymore. You can't miss work without good reason.
And then, at some point, when the whole deal becomes monotonous, you start thinking seriously about what is that you live for. This is probably the time you start thinking about your priorities in life. College life has an expiry date and with that there was always an anticipation of what next. Here, the privilege of an expiry date is taken away. You probably don't have anything to look forward to. Which is when you realize, you need to have a life beyond work, an identity of your own, independent of your job title. What matters to you the most?
Maybe you have your answers, maybe you don't. Maybe you haven't felt the kick yet and are still oblivious to the real world. But in case you have never thought about it, I pose a question to you -
What is that you live for?
And then, when you start working, you get the kick. You are invariably thrust in a hostile environment on your own, totally out of the comfort zone. You look out for familiar faces and suddenly start realizing the importance of family and friends. You begin to realize that you have responsibilities. You actually start planning your budgets and investments. You realize you need to change your food habits, your sleep cycle. Night outs start looking risky. You can't be late anymore. You can't miss work without good reason.
And then, at some point, when the whole deal becomes monotonous, you start thinking seriously about what is that you live for. This is probably the time you start thinking about your priorities in life. College life has an expiry date and with that there was always an anticipation of what next. Here, the privilege of an expiry date is taken away. You probably don't have anything to look forward to. Which is when you realize, you need to have a life beyond work, an identity of your own, independent of your job title. What matters to you the most?
Maybe you have your answers, maybe you don't. Maybe you haven't felt the kick yet and are still oblivious to the real world. But in case you have never thought about it, I pose a question to you -
What is that you live for?
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2 comments:
join a tech job in product development. It is full of thrills, the joy of making things work, the exasperation of thinking on a problem that apparently cannot be solve, and the ecstacy of eventually solving it. Everyday is fun for me.
You missed the point Pai. Or maybe I could not get it through. It's not about how much you enjoy your work or how many thrills you get out of it. It's been two months for me and I love my job. I honestly do. But that's not the point. Its about the bigger question of life in general.
PS: you enjoy Prod Dev doesnt mean the world will :)
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