As someone who is just a handful of months away from turning 30, I have worked in an office 9-5 for exactly 3 months of my entire life. Recently, I have found myself back in the office M-F, 9-5, after a year and a half of working remotely and I have quickly realized I would rather be burned alive than continue this.
My way of working has always been alternative; bouncing around the restaurants of New York making wads of cash each night, working in promotions at concerts and hockey games at iHeartRadio, playing the stock market, or working for myself flipping real estate properties. There was always a sense of shame I carried by not having a "career" like the rest of my friend group. The pandemic offered me the opportunity to work from home which changed my outlook on what type of work I could do. Working from home ended the stagnant hours in the office that were typically spent scrolling dating apps or reading old Harry Potter books. While working from home I was able to get hyper-productive. With that extra downtime being spent at home I was able to get my masters for free, buy two homes, begin weightlifting thrice a week, and maintained a part-time job; not to mention the opportunity to spend 8+ additional hours with my pup.
Now that I am back in the office that sense of shame of not having a career has transformed to feeling antiquated. After working from home for over a year the logistics of coming to the office no longer make sense to me and can only be processed by me as old-fashioned. I always thought the "traditional career" was not for me and after finding myself in one I no longer think this, I know it.
There are a million and one ways to make money, and being an expert on a topic or dedicating 40 hours of your week to an office is only two of them. I've found I am more of a renaissance man than a career man.
SO MUCH YES to this. Your comment made me think about one line from the article: "You devote the bulk of every day for 30-40 years in the prime of your life to various companies to make them and their shareholders money and then you get ten years near the end of your life to do what you please. Sounds like a bad arrangement."
I think there's an element of classism in the "career is the only way/the best way" trope, too. For people whose parents weren't wealthy and didn't go to college , the college-to-career transition was dubbed the white horse that would "save" you from poverty. It was the ultimate pursuit.
We were taught careers offer security, but the pandemic has made it clear that that isn't true. Unless you have immense wealth in your corner, there is no such thing as true security in America. So why not at least work in the way that makes you feel good and doesn't make you want to be burned alive? I'm with you, renaissance man!
As someone who is just a handful of months away from turning 30, I have worked in an office 9-5 for exactly 3 months of my entire life. Recently, I have found myself back in the office M-F, 9-5, after a year and a half of working remotely and I have quickly realized I would rather be burned alive than continue this.
My way of working has always been alternative; bouncing around the restaurants of New York making wads of cash each night, working in promotions at concerts and hockey games at iHeartRadio, playing the stock market, or working for myself flipping real estate properties. There was always a sense of shame I carried by not having a "career" like the rest of my friend group. The pandemic offered me the opportunity to work from home which changed my outlook on what type of work I could do. Working from home ended the stagnant hours in the office that were typically spent scrolling dating apps or reading old Harry Potter books. While working from home I was able to get hyper-productive. With that extra downtime being spent at home I was able to get my masters for free, buy two homes, begin weightlifting thrice a week, and maintained a part-time job; not to mention the opportunity to spend 8+ additional hours with my pup.
Now that I am back in the office that sense of shame of not having a career has transformed to feeling antiquated. After working from home for over a year the logistics of coming to the office no longer make sense to me and can only be processed by me as old-fashioned. I always thought the "traditional career" was not for me and after finding myself in one I no longer think this, I know it.
There are a million and one ways to make money, and being an expert on a topic or dedicating 40 hours of your week to an office is only two of them. I've found I am more of a renaissance man than a career man.
SO MUCH YES to this. Your comment made me think about one line from the article: "You devote the bulk of every day for 30-40 years in the prime of your life to various companies to make them and their shareholders money and then you get ten years near the end of your life to do what you please. Sounds like a bad arrangement."
I think there's an element of classism in the "career is the only way/the best way" trope, too. For people whose parents weren't wealthy and didn't go to college , the college-to-career transition was dubbed the white horse that would "save" you from poverty. It was the ultimate pursuit.
We were taught careers offer security, but the pandemic has made it clear that that isn't true. Unless you have immense wealth in your corner, there is no such thing as true security in America. So why not at least work in the way that makes you feel good and doesn't make you want to be burned alive? I'm with you, renaissance man!