Productivity; it’s something which we all value, being productive something which we all seek to be. Though, in our quest to be productive, we, perhaps subconsciously, place work on a pedestal above all else…
‘I can’t read a book during the day because I should be replying to emails.’
‘I can’t go on holiday this year because I’m too busy with work’…
In doing this, in holding our jobs to such high regard, many of us forget the true nature of our existence. In fact, we forget nature itself- we forget that there is a whole world out there away from the glare of our laptop screens, so much beauty being overlooked as we are so caught up in the daily grind of work.
To see this for yourself- to see how caught up in the ‘grind’ we all are- I urge you to go to a beauty spot which you have previously visited on a weekend, during the week. I did this myself a couple of months ago, when I went to Kinder Scout on a Monday morning in May. The car park, which is always overflowing on a weekend, was practically empty. Why? Because most people would’ve been at work, sat behind a desk, most probably daydreaming about being back among the hills, just counting down the days until they’re free to go back…
Just seeing the difference in ‘busyness’ during the week compared to the weekend, although a seemingly insignificant observation, made me realise just how much of our lives we sacrifice in chasing ‘productivity.’ So many of us spend our whole lives wishing the weekdays away in anticipation of two days- the weekend (if you’re fortunate enough to have weekends off)- when we can do what we actually want to do with our lives. What a sad state of affairs this all is. Sad because most of us only get to do what we genuinely want to do, not just what we feel like we have to do, 2 days out of 7…
Recognising this- recognising that most of us are sacrificing our lives just in order to be seen as ‘productive’- although potentially difficult to get ones head around- is a positive thing, not least because it can make us kinder and more tolerant towards people…
When you go to pick up your prescription from the pharmacy and it’s not there, rather than getting annoyed at the pharmacist, remember that they are just doing their job. I’m sure that they don’t want to be there, not really. I’m sure that they’d much rather be at home with their kids, or up a mountain somewhere experiencing real life, but, they’re not, they’re doing a job (a very much needed job for the wellbeing of our society, but still, just a job). They’re sacrificing their time and, essentially, their freedom and their life, for money. And, what a sacrifice it is, for, this isn’t a trial run. This is our (very short) life, and we should be living it, not trapped in the endless cycle of work. ‘Endless’ because, the more we work, the more rooted in capitalism society becomes and, the more rooted in capitalism society is, the harder it is to see a way out of that cycle, let alone make it out of that cycle. Some people will thus go through their whole lives thinking that to have lived a ‘successful’ life means to have worked the hardest, to have earned the most money, to have stayed on the treadmill the longest- always. This isn’t their fault though, this isn’t because they’re ‘superficial’ or ‘materialistic’, it’s because this narrative is pushed on us, all the time.
It frustrates me when people can’t see past the ‘surface level’ stuff, like money and acquisition- I want to shout ‘open your eyes!!!’- but, I do get it. It’s hard to see past something when so few of us are ever awakened to the truth, to the true nature of our existence… Not an existence driven by how much money we can make and how much work we can do- this should not be the goal of life- but an existence driven by how much happiness and meaning we can make and how much good we can do. Because, at the end of the day, the fact of the matter is that; when you get to the end, you’re not going to be thinking about your bank balance, because money just does not matter, not in the grand scheme of things, not at all…
The idea that ‘money doesn’t buy happiness but it can buy you opportunities that bring you happiness’ is true- it can and it does- but it shouldn’t be this way. Happiness shouldn’t be reserved for the privileged few. It shouldn’t be something that you need money in order to have. Everyone should be able to do what they want to do in life regardless of their financial position. The fact that they can’t is a prime example of why capitalism needs to go. Not that it’s that simple, obviously. I’m not naïve in thinking that we will wake up one day having collectively decided to abolish money and work and all the things which capitalism thrives on, but, I am hopeful that the more people who are awakened to the fact that this is all an illusion- that none of it is actually real- the further we will get in being happy- experiencing happiness, not based on our job and how much we get paid, but happiness based on our life and how much we get to live– truly live- in the moment, experiencing what this is all about… Because, whilst yes, capitalism has taught us to value productivity above all else, to tie our self worth to what we do for work, it needn’t be this way. We are valid in our humanness. With nothing to prove, to simply be here- alive– is enough.
My only hope for my own life is that, when I get to the end, I’ll have a legacy to leave, that people will look back and remember me as having made the world a bit better than it was when I entered it. If I die with no money to my name, then I will be content in knowing that I have rejected the mainstream ideas of success, having chosen, instead, to do things my own way, to chase happiness. This is the hope I hold for my future, anyway. We shall just have to wait and see if it, pardon the pun, ‘materialises‘, and, in the meantime, I will just keep writing in the hope of awakening more people to the true nature of life…
Carpe fu**ing diem x
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