About Work & Money …

Yesterday was Labor Day and that brings to mind my “essence flaw”, according to “school”. When I encountered Lisa, the grande dame of recruitment, life was racking me over the coals, but nothing vexed and confused me more than career/work/money things.  I was really struggling.

That was great fodder for “school”-style brow beating! “School’s” employment policy was (probably still is) it-doesn’t-matter-what-you-do-as-long-as-you-are-working … Many of my “5-week aims”, many of my efforts, were desperate scrambles to adhere to this policy; eventually, they always failed.

Like a good little cult, “school” leveraged this failure. By the end of my tenure I was unemployed, desperate, fearful, dependent and bordering on insane. 

I left the hollow halls in 2011. After my exit, I analyzed my experience, of course, concluding that Lisa duped me into a cult — Yay!  I said “Fuck school’s ‘work & money’ policies.” I launched a “school”-free career reassessment, factoring in my personal proclivities and strengths and hopes. I thought about how much time we spend at work, and around work colleagues. It devours the lion’s share. I concluded that not only does it matter what I do for work, it’s critical to my well-being. I was never the kind of person who could pull off any-job-will-do.

Like so many pat “school” rules and policies, its one-size-fits-all “help” for work and money was — in fact — damaging. “School” employed the policy as a justification to rip my already fragile sense of worth and confidence to shreds. That practice is Cult Common. If a cult is worth its weight in cult-i-ness, its tactics include overly simplified “answers” to complex life struggles and character assassinations doled out when prescriptions don’t work: ” … you must not be trying hard enough.” That phrase echoed and bounced through the hollow halls and off walls with greater frequency each passing cult day.

Funny, thing, when I rejected any-job-will-do, my work and money problems disappeared.  I haven’t had trouble finding work since I left. Go figure. If you happen to be “breaking rules” by reading this blog, just thought you should know that if your “school” tenure is pushing you past the brink of sanity, I can assure you that “leaving the source” is your best option.

Happy Labor Day!

 

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