This I Believe

It's one thing to work and make a living and its another to work too much that it takes over your life.  Humans should have a balance between working and living so that pay can still be made but hours are not lost with family and friends.

I believe that people should work to live, not live to work.  The absence of this reason results in an unbalanced lifestyle, with the complete focus on one's source of income- their job.

People tend to be obsessed with their job because receiving their pay at the end of the week is gratifying.  Hardworking people are admired in our society and we strive to be placed under these same economical and social statuses.  However,  the act of working hard is not measured in pay nor in hours worked.  We have no sense of when it is reasonable to stop and rest.

As a result, we may sometimes feel that our idea of working hard isn't hard enough.  This causes us to work harder than ever, sometimes keeping us blind to the fact that we are taking time away from other values in our life.

Many people measure their pride in their success.  As adults, many would consider their jobs their main source of happiness- except when they are in the midst of a conflict at work, when then they are then predominantly frustrated or upset.

A couple years ago, I realized the difference between the lives of my mother and father.  My mother constantly stresses over work, letting her pessimistic attitude affect her time at home.  My dad is the complete opposite.  He has a well-paying job and works very hard to keep it, but he rarely ever brings his work life into the house.  This leads him to constantly have an optimistic attitude and time for more fun activities.

This past summer, I was supposed to take a trip to Florida.  My mother ended up calling the trip off because there was a problem with her job.  She had to go in extra hours and work late into the night trying to resolve it.  I rarely ever got to see her.  She let her job take time and fun away from her family.

Although I am still a student and do not have a full-time job to concentrate on, I am very fond of dancing.  I have classes nearly ever night and I often go home after a practice and continue working on the steps.  Instead of doing homework or getting ready for the next day, I am so focused on conquering the moves that I let it appropriate all of my free time.

As I grow older, I tell myself that I want to try my best to stray away from the idea of living to work.  There is more to life than self-brought up ideas of success and there are more ways to succeed than just at work.