Where has the sunshine gone? It is has been raining all day :(
No worry, no worry, there you are! Come inside. Seriously, you are the sunshine of this blog, so thanks for dropping by. :D
Has anyone ever thanked you for doing them a favour? ;) A few come to mind: helping grandma cross the road, giving way to a car during the traffic hour, or helping your sister with her maths homework. I always wondered what the distinguishing factor was between helping others for a moral reason and simply helping them for the sake of it. Arguably you do all of the above because it is the right thing to do in the circumstances. Tell me then, why don't we have this view of the mundane but necessary tasks of our everyday's existence?
I am talking about the chores that have to be done at home, like washing the dishes, ironing the clothes, cleaning the toilets or cooking a meal. I am talking about the exams that everyone is revising for, or the tasks at the office. We always see the necessity behind it: "it just has to be done", or "someone has to do it". Yet we never take a step back and ask ourselves why, and whom are we ultimately helping?
The answer to this question is simple: you are helping yourself. It takes some time to sink in, but if you really do think about it, every task, including walking the dog and scooping up poopy, always has a benefit to the act. Haha, and I repeat, to those who can't do these tasks of necessity, let me explain the benefits that you are missing out on.
I find that work hardens the spirit: it builds independence in one's self. It allows you to be organized, more hard working and widens your capacity for more work in the future. It allows you to build up a thicker skin so other problems that come along in your life can be handled promptly because you have handled miniature versions of them before! If you can pick up poop and throw it away, you can deal with poop from other people. If I take an extreme example of a princess who has never had to do any chores in her life (ie: has never needed to think for herself) and then suddenly she finds out her prince is not a prince after all, but some bandit called Del Devil Tortuga, a very bad man indeed, she has no apparatus to protect herself because she has never given back, she has always taken. A person who steals and never gives back is a starving person, even if they are living in the most abundant of places.
Work then, is a form of self improvement. It allows you to do things for others as you would like things to be done for you. The more that you do well at the work you do, the more you will naturally give that wisdom to others. When you go over to a messy house, there is a part of you that wants to clean it and so the change begins. When you work hard at work, your boss will reward you, much to the dismay of your co-workers (their problem not yours :D). When you do well at your exams, you not only get recognition with some fancy looking letter work on a page (meaningless), you get that amazing feeling of accomplishment which comes from you putting the work in and achieving something for your efforts.
In fact wherever you work and whatever you do, know that it is benefiting you or someone around you. I believe that in the ideal society everyone should have a day of the year where they do a job out of their comfort zone. I would love to see bankers sweeping the roads, politicians teaching fitness and bartenders as nucleur physicists for a day. Yes, the world might go down the toilet, but at least for one moment in time the world could realize and appreciate how even the most mundane tasks or the less prestigious ones are so important. There is no pyramid of status in society (just an illusion of one), I believe that on a deeper level everyone is working on a circle.
Of course play and entertainment is important but so is the balance that work brings. We often fall into the trap of thinking that work is evil, and entertainment is good. I personally believe that they are the opposite round. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is the famous saying. "More work and some play makes Jack a fulfilled boy". I personally prefer fulfilled to being colorful. Haha.
My final point: relish in the work. When we work we often dream, and when we dream we are actually at work. The point being is that I encourage you to not make work harder than it really is. Everything can be a game, but it is still a game with rules. Work is not bad for you but if you want to gain from it, remember it is what we put in that we ultimately get out. The Bible sums it up beautifully in Galatians 6:7: 'Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.'
Everyone has the ability to make work into play, and play into work. It is just a choice. :)
Until next time.
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