No one minds having a steady monthly income but when it requires you to work 5 week days from morning to evening, then I guess the cost to benefit ratio is pretty much equal most of the time. As such, many people in the world are switching to working free lance jobs and being self-employed so that they have the flexibility to work whenever they want to. At the end of the day, the vast majority of the population must still work for a living due to various circumstances that they are in. Besides the income factor, are there other reasons why people want to work? In this week’s post, I would like to share that work actually keeps us grounded and perhaps that could also be an important factor to maintaining a sustainable and balanced life.
Your monthly income determines the definition of sustainability
For example, if you are earning an income of $4000 per month, then it would be odd for you to spend more than $4000 on any given month. Having a fixed income helps us with our budgeting and we will clearly know if our living expenses are sustainable or not. I am not sure about others but I know that all businesses that pay a fair wage are often under severe pressure if their income drops in a particular month. Honestly, if you are paid decently well, then your job is not far off from being a great privilege in your life.
Work keeps us disciplined to a large extent
We all work based on a somewhat fixed schedule and while that makes us somewhat stuck, it also offers us an important structure in our lives. People who are living without a regular schedule often feels lost when they run out of things to do on a regular basis. As such, they will usually pack their schedule with activities that happens periodically to help stabilise their lifestyle. In short, humans all need some kind of schedule to keep ourselves active and productive. Surely, those activities might not be in the form of paid labour however, unless you are filthy rich, then there is no way you can survive happily without a consistent income to cover your expenses.
Work help us relate with others and have similar rest days
Personally, I have tried to not work and live on my savings for a period of time but that did not turn out the way I envisioned. Initially, I imagines life without work to be carefree and fun but after living without work for a few months, I felt pressured to keep life enjoyable especially when my peers get their regular paychecks and annual bonuses. The worst part of that life was when there were no difference between weekdays and weekends because you would have probably exhausted all of your leisure options during the weekdays such that there is no longer a need to head out on the weekends. In that case, is it not better to be a part of the majority where we can work and rest on roughly the same days in the week?
Closing Thoughts
This week’s short post is hopefully a good start for people who are fantasising about not having to work and how life would be better. From my experience, work and a steady income could also be most people’s blessing especially if they are involved in areas where they are passionate in and are paid well enough. So instead of thinking about not working to make life better, maybe its time to consider life with more meaningful work rather than living without work.
