Musing the Mundane

I've been licking sticking stamps ever since yesterday afternoon. Haha. While my team mates were out, I thought it best to help the Admissions team in assembling letters for direct mailers. It was a humbling and enlightening experience.

The past months I've bean beating myself up and getting a beating because of the high demands of my current job, leaving me physically and mentally exhausted. The corporate world is a big bad black hole-- sucking out the life of individuals who persist to absorb the pressure and the cutthroat demands of the industry. 'Tis somewhat like a Dementor's kiss. Sadly, many of us are trapped in this vicious cycle whether it be to fulfill our economic needs or to fulfill that burning desire for accomplishment and recognition.

It's a common scenario with people in the corporate jungle to be irate about work, a their colleagues, being overworked and under paid, and the constant desire to jump ship. But more often than not, people don't really get out-- not because they want to, but because they have to. I find myself in that exact predicament as of this moment. YES, this choice to be a corporate slave is not a walk in the park but this rougher terrain is what is necessary to achieve my dreams of pursuing what I want to do in the long term. 

As I have decided to change my perspective about work and about life, I take more time to revel in the little things that are worth appreciating. I am thankful for having days when I don't feel like setting the school on fire. I am thankful for days when I have enough time to do tiny tasks instead of killing myself revising a propsal for the 100th time (which still gets corrections from fickle-minded big bosses). I am thankful for days when I don't feel like bursting into tears because the system is ill and I feel short-changed. 

I am thankful for peaceful days at work.

I find joy in simple tasks-- sticking stamps on envelopes, carefully folding letters, inserting them into folders, sealing the envelopes, counting the number of letters assembled, and handing them over to someone for delivery. The steps are easier, the expectations are lower, and there is minimal room for error.

When a good friend of mine (who's in the same industry as I am) visited last year, he asked me & my other friend: "What if you had to choose an easy job that didn't require you to think much but you'd be contented doing it? Disregard the thought of salary, social stigma, or accomplishment. What would it be?" 

 He said he had two things he wanted to do: 1) Be an LBC encoder, and 2) Be one of those airport staff with the light-saber things guiding airplanes (but that really doesn't count as not thinking too much because there's a lot of risks involed! Haha).

It took me quite a long time to rack my brain. There were so many things that I wanted to do! I thought of wanting to be an amusement park customer counter (the one who presses that thingamajig that counts the # of people), being a ticket lady for a cinema, or a grocery bagger! Diba? There are so many things that we can do that would bring us less stress but simple satisfaction for a job well done. 

Wouldn't life be much easier if we were more content with the work that we're doing? No pressure, no social stigma to worry about, no salary or poverty issues to think of?

Those were the thoughts running through my mind as I finished my last batch of letters earlier this morning. How I wish all days were easy breezy and happy.

Now, if I were to ask you the same question my friend asked. What would your ideal job be?