“I am terribly miserable at my job!” “I mean, I absolutely HATE IT!!” the young 25 year old business professional exclaims to his close friend of seven years.
“I have no sense of creativity or input into the company I work for,” “It’s actually pretty bad when you think about it,” he says as he solemnly shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders.
I’m sure most people would envy being in a position like this, especially being in their twenty’s, single, no children, college educated, and living in a major metropolitan city like New York, Atlanta, or Chicago. The job has a nice fancy title, like “Business Analyst” or “Business Consultant,” and the opportunity to make $60,000+ per year, I mean, what could possibly be wrong?
So, I guess it’s inevitable that we must all eventually grow up, work a bland 9 to 5 job, while we anxiously await our two weeks of paid vacation that we so desperately look forward to every year. Right? Well, maybe not all of us, but, most of us will, if we’re lucky enough to secure job stability with health benefits and a financial vehicle to maintain a sense of attempting to live the “American dream.”
As for the American work culture, we work long, exhausting hours, with a marginal amount of paid vacation time and sick leave, with very little room for advancement in the companies that we are employed by. Ready, set, go! Let the “rat race” begin!
Now, I’m sure many of you are wondering, what’s “rat race?” A rat race is often described as a “mad scramble or an intense competitive struggle, such as in the business world.” Other sources describe a rat race as “an activity or situation which is congested with participants and is very hectic or tedious, especially in the context of a busy modern lifestyle.” More traditional sources define a rat race as “an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit as in the futile efforts of a lab rat trying to escape, but ultimately achieves nothing meaningful.”
Most Americans work a “dead-end” job that allows for limited progression. It doesn’t really matter if you are working at a fast food-restaurant, a retail job or a Fortune 500 company. The results are the same. You begin with a position in the company and if you’re lucky, you’re able to progress within a few positions above where you started. Then finally, you hit the ceiling of your company. There’s no more room for upward growth.
Ultimately, this translates to large numbers of dissatisfied workers within all sectors of the American work world. However, the research shows that business owners and entrepreneurs tend to have more positive associations with work, than non-business owners. This is probably the case because entrepreneurs are usually doing something that they genuinely love, they are allotted creative control within their company, and possess the ability to make decisions about the direction in which the company is going to develop.
Now, getting back to the millions of Americans that are extremely displeased with their work situation, what exactly are the effects? One thing for sure, is that people are dealing with increased levels of stress and even depression. It’s always been thought that people go through a mid-life crisis somewhere around their 40’s (but sometimes a little earlier, perhaps in their late 30’s or even a little later as in their 50’s). However, one may find that younger and younger adults are experiencing this mid-life crisis, or perhaps it should be called the “quarter-life crisis.”
The notion of a mid-life crisis was coined by Dr. Carl Jung, a well known psychologist, which described this brief life stage as being a natural, maturing process in which the person begins to experience a wide range of feelings. One of the common themes is a feeling of discontent with their life, feelings of unhappiness regarding different activities that used to make them happy, and a sense of confusion about who you are and where you are going with your life.
If one examines the idea that this is occurring more and more frequently in younger adults, this strongly suggests that external circumstances (job, work environment, etc.) are beginning to play an even larger role in how our mind and body responds to such situations. The increased levels of stress, the suffering of mild and moderate levels of depression, coupled with the difficult challenges of people trying to carve their way through their professional, social, and romantic worlds can make for a rather interesting rollercoaster ride, called “Life.”
Now, how exactly does one deal with the challenging mental stressors of the “rat race?” How do you move past the mid-life or the quarter-life crisis? How do we regain a sense of positive life control when our world is spiraling in complete chaos?
You know, I’m not sure if anyone really has the answer to these complex questions. However, the only purely genuine answer that I can come up with has to do with a person continuously trying to journey down their own path of self discovery. I think one must go back to basics. What brings true delight in your life? What are some tangible things that contribute to your overall happiness? Are there certain people in your life that are a consistent source of light for you?
Perhaps, taking the time to reevaluate our life priorities might provide us with the steps necessary to deal with the stresses of the “rat race.” In addition to this, finding a job, career, or occupation that brings us a sense of joy and fulfillment will make it easier to cope with all of the negative aspects of our strenuous work culture. According to Norman Peale, “a life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress is the easiest type of existence,” and this inner peace actually has the ability to alleviate life’s stressful situations.
This article is inspired by, dedicated to, and written for my dear friend, DeNorris Johnson. I love you!
As for the song choice for this article, I hope you enjoy the music selection!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmLedW-YYfE (The Song: Chain Gang; The Artist: Sam Cooke.) (I figured this song is nice representation of how stressful work can be! I’m sure many people believe that they in so many ways are “working on the chain gang!”)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVMhxqWVdqs (The Song: Work to Do; The Artist: Vanessa Williams.) (I really think this is a nice early 90’s song that discusses all of the work that has to be done, particularly from a female perspective.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGUsF-Whb1g (The Song: Everything is Everything; The Artist: Lauryn Hill) (One of my favorites and undoubtedly a beautifully classic song, that is inspirational about this life theme! Enjoy!)
