MaMaN Says....# 2 - Live to Work or Work to Live?

Back in primary school, when my teacher asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The following assortment of answers followed:

“Fireman”
“Policeman”
“Army”
And my personal favourite, “Ustazah”(ustazah=female religous teacher)....hehehehhh

The funny thing is, no one at the time said;

“Millionaire”
“Real estate tycoon”
“Businessman”
“Politician”
Or even, “Singer”-Malaysian Idol???Akademi Fantasia???....hahahah

In a strange twist of ideals, the firemen and policemen wannabes eventually wanted to be millionaires and tycoons by the time they were in their late teens. So it seems materialism develop late and stays for at least a few decades. Then curiously another twist in idealism happens. Of late, my cohort of army and ustazah wannabes who have solid careers in law and banking have turned away from their so called calling once more. One successful maritime lawyer friend suddenly switched to filmmaking. From seriously raking in money, he switched to being poor, but extremely satisfied. When I asked him why he said, “I was on a ship and while walking off it I almost fell to my death. It was a wake up call. I immediately took stock of what I had and what I really wanted in life. I wanted to make movies.”

Then there is the curious case of the banker who became a baker. With a client list that full of ‘money-names’ she abandoned her money-making job and started baking cookies for pennies. All of us were shocked. Here were the rest of us struggling to make what she does and she callously throws it all and with reckless abandon, starts baking because, “It makes me happy.”

So it all boils down to happiness. If you’re doing something that truly irks you, it doesn’t matter how much you make… or does it? A million bucks to clean public toilets - Some people might gladly do it(well yeah....me too..count me in please!..hehehehh).

After five jobs in the past six years, I have set a certain level of tolerance in the jobs that I do. Right now, it's more on survival "thing" than what I really love & wanted to do. I got to "pause" my dream for a while and waiting the right time to rise again. For the time being, nowadays, as soon as I wake up and dread the thought of doing what I’m supposed to for the set amount of money… I know it’s time to go.

So what’s your dream job? Or more importantly, are you ready to pursue it?