My father was the "if you love your job, you never have to work" type. He started flying airplanes when he was just 15, and has never stopped. He is now 75 years old and still flies despite losing an entire leg to cancer, (probably caused by the mushroom clouds he flew through during Operation Plowshare, when he was in the Air Force), in a plane he built himself.

I guess I got that from him, and have been working on computers since before many people had them and am at the top of my game even after all these years. I got some pilots lessons, but I could never be a pilot, I grew up around that so much, it seemed like I would just be a glorified bus driver. I worked out my commute, I live 1.5 miles from my office, so I can easily walk to work when I feel like it.

I'm not really into reality TV, but caught a few shows. It appears to me like they make up most of the story line just to ramp up the drama. If it was really reality, it would be too painfully boring to stand. I think work is a way to build up drama in our own lives. All those things you look forward to on the weekend would be boring if you did it every day, and household chores would be far less rewarding, (which is probably why I support feminists). Although, I suppose travelling the world, if you could afford it, would be a good substitute for that drama.

I have a relatively shitty job. Viewed in the broad context of human history, it's not so bad, but I make well below the national average (and median) and there're few challenges or opportunities to apply my natural strengths and talents (tho i do get to make use of my gnarly typing skills - soo many words per minute) I dispatch for AAA northern new england. So pretty much a call center, with just a little more agency. But I need it - someone with more discipline could make good use of swathes of work-free time and someone with less social anxiety could find ways to regularly interact with others outside of coerced teamwork. But that's not me, at least not yet. Left to my own devices, I'm fine for a few weeks but eventually descend into a reclusive hell of addiction and distraction. Work structures life for me, makes my freetime rewarding rather than crushing, and forces me to interact regularly with other people. Until I develop better self-discipline and an ability to freely overcome my inclination to withdraw, work is something I deeply need.

I've worked a couple of places and find work to be the most therapeutic thing one can do when confronted with problems. You basically have some measure of how well you function relative to other co-workers and that in itself (matching or even exceeding the performance of other coworkers) is healthy in its own right. The virtues of work are endless.

I applied for a job as a sanitation officer due to for some reason my liking of cleaning things, unfortunately, that didn't work out as planned and never got a callback. I have other sources of income and have been surprised at how little you can live off.

Guess, I'm in need of work now. Ho-hum.

If I didn't work I probably wouldn't even leave my house, and never interact with anyone. I have the social phobia... and I also find most people to just be insufferably annoying. I am generally at least a little bit angry, or annoyed all the time. That's just like my resting place, lol.

I like my job a lot because I like physical activity and exercise, and I simply wouldn't do it nearly as often, or as intensely with getting paid, and competing with others. I do love competition a lot, and respect anyone with the self-esteem to believe themselves to be better, and wish to show it.

This was a costly year too, so there will be no extended winter vacation of lying around. I also am really really really lazy, or just unmotivated, I guess. There is so much work to do, I should be cleaning up and fixing my house, there is a lot to do on it... but nothing's falling over, so it can wait... lol

If I was just rich, and didn't have to work, I like to believe that I would travel the world, and be really active and outgoing... but more likely I'd travel for a year, and then go home, decay, and grow mushrooms until I die.

As you said, work is a given so it really is a burden not to think positively or at least indifferently to work or one passing work to others. So I guess we really have no choice on how to view work.

At the moment, I think of work as tasks I have to get over with. I'm usually pressuring myself because I don't want to disappoint and I don't want to lose face and deemed worthless. Its easy to get overwhelmed and to break down with this mind set especially when the going gets tough. The weight of seeing the Pointlessness of your efforts (capital P) easily compounds the mental and physical demand.

I would really like to retire already if only I have the finances. I think I would still work but I would have the liberty to choose which work I'll accept and which work I'll reject and only whenever I feel like it. Some characteristics of ideal work for me would be (1) challenging independent work where reliance on other people, in terms of social interaction, is minimized; I'm thinking of research or design work, (2) work with tangible outputs and results, and (3) a setup where I have someone who will do the mundane tasks for me, some sort of a hybrid between a manager, secretary, and a personal assistant, who takes care of all the bureaucratic paperwork and marketing and daily chores that I wouldn't want to do. This or some mindless, low-risk work like housekeeping.

I think it really depends. If that work involves things that sufficiently align with your interests or values then it'd definitely be more enjoyable than not. I used to volunteer for a nutrition research lab for example. The people weren't at all the sort I'd enjoy to be around but the work was engaging, and at the time I was interested in the topic and liked the work. I've done other sorts of volunteer work -- I had the chance to do a bit of tree planting and branch gathering/wood chopping for this farm an hour or so from where I live-- and that likewise was fun. Not for the intellectual stimulation but just the atmosphere, being outside, listening to music, helping to do handiwork..

If the work is contra values or doesn't seem at all personally meaningful then that's when it wouldn't be enjoyable. I've been in that sort of situation too -- but, again the reason I didn't like it wasn't because of it's being work perse but rather because of it just simply not being worthwhile work to me.

Do you consider your work, the work for which you are paid, a net contribution to your life, or a net subtraction? — Bitter Crank

My time spent working, earning a living, is a significant part of my life. If that hugely significant portion of my life was not somehow making a contribution to my life, I don't know how I could live with myself. This would be a massive contradiction. I would be spending this huge part of my life, in an effort to subtract from my overall experience of "my life". How could I ever maintain such an existence, which would be to spend much of my existence in an effort to negate my existence? It doesn't make sense.

The problem I see here, is that you have attempted to separate "psychological income" from "financial income", and this can't be done in any clear cut way. Work is necessary for financial income, and financial income is necessary to maintain psychological stability. So one must view one's work as a necessary ingredient in psychological stability, and therefore necessarily "psychological income". To vary from this is to invite psychological instability.

I said this in a previous thread and it would apply here:
As far as life is expressed by the work we do.. I don't know, that's a pretty romantic vision of work. It seems like an ad hoc justification for a forced activity. Saying "Hey, we all have to work, but maybe you can find work that expresses your creativity", does not take away the fact that we are FORCED to work, whether there is a benefit we might get out of it or not. The forced part might be the sticking point here.

It took me till late in life to find my current occupation as technical writer. Tech writers produce instructions, configuration guides, end-user guides, and the like, for IT systems. Sometimes it can be very dull, depending on the job. It's also quite unstable as tech writers typically work on a contract basis, it's competitive and jobs can be hard to get. Now I'm in my sixth decade, I'm also suffering some age-related discrimination, not so much because of my age per se, but because of my relative seniority, i.e. the jobs I am suited to are higher-level ones for which there's more competition.

Anyway I have to work for as long as I can, because property prices in Sydney are enormous and because of not being financially self-sufficient or ready for retirement. If I didn't have to work, I would like to go on a lot of meditation retreats and hone my understanding of dharma, and also continue to read and study as long as possible.

I work as a self-employed landscape consultant/designer/contractor. Elements of it I like; the plants and natural materials (I have always loved the natural world and used to regularly spend up to a week or more in the bush alone or with friends when I was younger) and elements of it I dislike: namely a few clients.

But, I'm mostly self-determined and have always pursued other interests such as painting, writing and music, and over the last eight or so years I have slowly been working through an undergraduate degree majoring in Philosophy and English literature. Sometimes having to go to work when I would much rather spend time engaged in the activities I love shits me; but then I guess I have to consider myself lucky that the work I do keeps me physically fit and often gives the satisfaction of having created something aesthetically pleasing, and that I am always, within the bounds of the obligations I have to my clients, 'my own boss'.

I hate work. It's something I must do. And I've had a lot of jobs of various degrees of cool and suck, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter what I'm doing -- whether I love it or find it boring. It's the fact that I have to be there that I dislike. In the grand scheme I have made peace with the fact. But if you gave me the option I wouldn't do it.

When I've been unemployed I have always had more energy and been more involved with projects and people. I read, I write, I visit people, I volunteer, I exercise. I do all those things still, but in a limited way, and I don't always get to them all because I'm just tired at the end of the day.

Honestly I think that work is work. I don't even ask if I like it. For me, we all need to work and help each other. Now I'm working much more than before probably, as I'm working for myself - but I'm also enjoying it more, and I've probably been learning more in the past 4-5 months than in the previous entire two years. So in the periods when I'm very busy I pretty much work around the clock. But you know I can't figure out what I'd do if I wasn't working you know... I'd read, I'd write, I'd meet and chat with a few people, write on here, pray etc. But work makes me happy - it's enjoyable seeing that other people find what you do valuable and it helps them.

The annoying part for me about having a job as such is that you have a boss. I hate that, I could never really stand it. And I always like taking leadership roles, and pushing my vision, so I've always had trouble "working in a team", which ends up being more politics than you know, doing the best thing.

But anyway - to reply to your comments in the Shoutbox:

Perhaps "Living their life" should, whatever that means, have priority. And I'm not sure that "work for work's sake" is worthwhile. — Bitter Crank

To be honest this isn't a very complicated question for me. If you look through history, most people today have lived and experienced SO MUCH MORE than pretty much anyone 100-200 years ago - and all this probably the time they're in their mid 20s. And yet they're still unhappy. They still want more. Perhaps they're even more unhappy.

I think we should keep things in perspective. There's not much that one can do on Earth to be happy. A few things. Do useful work for others. Be a member of your community. Read, write, and seek to understand and garner knowledge. Possibly start a family. And most importantly, don't get bored :P - learn to be patient. There's no much else to do on Earth. All those people infinitely seeking for the next thing, and the next thing - they'll never find what they're looking for.

I'm working for myself

What's your business? genuinely curious.

IT (mostly database creation/management for small businesses) and back-end web development. But I'm a civil engineer by profession. I've been learning this by myself otherwise over the years.

It's really all about managing your emotions I found. Break big problems into small problems, tackle them one by one, and most importantly, don't get bored - or scared - haha... If there could be a man who could rule with an iron fist over all of their emotions, then that person could pretty much do anything, I'm becoming more and more sure about that. It's not lack of skills that's holding most back, it's lack of confidence and fear.

You and your polls... :-} X-)

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but I can still think of a million better ways to spend my time if it wasn't a necessity. I work for money. That's what it comes down to. There are worse jobs than mine, and there are better jobs than mine. Mine isn't too bad. It's tolerable. I would quit in a heartbeat if money wasn't an issue.

I work five days a week, but usually not full-time hours. I work a minimum of 20 hours a week, and typically more. I want more contracted hours, even though working them would be much worse. But... money... more of it.

Retail. Customer service.

If you were offered a lifetime income at your current income (plus cost of living increases) what would you actually do with your time? — Bitter Crank

Hmmm - I think I'd work same as before. I genuinely like working to help other people and seeing that what I do helps them. I just don't know what the hell else one can do with their time >:O If I was really rich, I'd start organising others to work in directions that I find to be good for my local community.

I don't like parties, etc. I think those events are a waste of time. So if you made me a billionaire BC, you wouldn't see me on a yacht with three or more ladies, I can guarantee that >:O

social anxiety — csalisbury

I found that regarding these things it's good to accept yourself as you are, don't try to be like others, or how others think it's good to be. Get your self-esteem out of things which are in accordance with your own personality. We all are different - some are naturally shy, some naturally don't like to meet new people, etc. I've been diagnosed with anxiety before. Nowadays I still feel anxious, but I just do things regardless - I'm no longer "upset" or "annoyed" that I feel anxious or trying to change. But I do things which are true to who I am and who I want to be. If I feel anxious about activity X, and that activity is something that society thinks is good for me, then fuck it. I don't do it. But if activity X is something that is in accordance with who I am and who I want to be, then I just force myself to do it. Basically for me, it's been about accepting anxiety as an eternal part of my life, and just getting on with it - living as if I don't feel it. I know because it's just my personality, I will always feel anxiety - but I ignore it. Probably if someone meets me, they wouldn't even know I have it, unless I tell them. I don't think it's about changing how you feel - just how you act, and react to events. In the end, anxiety is just an uncomfortable feeling. Personally I've learned that I can cope with feeling uncomfortable and act normally regardless of it. When you do a sport - which is very useful - it feels very uncomfortable to run, and push yourself, etc. But it's just about training that will, to keep going regardless.

In some professions the border between work and free time, or work for money and work for nothing, is fuzzy. In architecture, for instance.

Was a self-employed landscape maintenance guy who luckily fell into a job with a salary, rent and utilities covered by employer. My income is the effect of a private investment company and its privately funded non-profit foundation, so I'm basically working for a wealthy person.

I find work routine and dull but it does help me to keep physically and mentally together. I don't have much discipline or energy to use my off hours for personal growth and usually find myself consuming mindless entertainment. I struggle with insomnia which sours my mood a lot.

If I was wealthy enough I'd work on building an off grid tiny house community centered around a communal farm and a workshop for promoting open source DIY activities. Fuck the Capitalist pigs who don't know how to utilize land properly.