Member-only story
Work can be fun and fulfilling.
Questions you need to ask yourself if you're unhappy at work
I have always felt guilty for trying to find a job or a career I enjoy.
Working a corporate job deludes you into thinking you're supposed to hate work. That the job is only a means to an end — aka the paycheque.
It's so ingrained in the things we do at work. You connect with your coworkers about how much you hate Mondays, compete over how bad your commute is, and share elaborate daydreams about quitting if you won the lottery.
When I first started working after graduating, I truthfully enjoyed work. Or at least parts of it. I, naively, didn't understand why my older coworkers were so jaded about their work. Why do they only want to do the bare minimum and clock out as soon as possible?
I lost the high-on-work feeling a few years later because I had burned out. And ever since then have been trying to find that magic again.
Daydreaming of work I love
When I first quit my job without a plan, I asked myself so many questions about the kind of work I love. What it means to have a sense of purpose.
While many friends and mentors encouraged me to find those answers outside of work, I found that it didn't jive with me. It took me a while to be okay to admit that work is a necessity for me.
I needed to find work I enjoyed.
I needed work to energize me.
Work that consumed me.
Work that quickly put me in a state of flow.
Work that was my zone of genius.
Work can be fun.
I had been looking for those answers for a long time. Even as a child. I was a weird kid who didn't have specific career ambitions but knew that a career and education were crucial. I don't recall thinking I wanted to be a teacher, lawyer, doctor, etc. And I wasn't very creative, which left me with only a few choices.
When it came time to choose a field of study, I decided to go into accounting. It promised stability and certainty. I thought I would be okay if I didn't find passion in a career. Maybe I, too…
