“Soft living imposes on us the penalty of debility; we cease to be able to do the things we’ve long been grudging about doing.” – Seneca (Letters from a Stoic: Letter LV)
What is it about retirement that draws our Western eye? Why do so many of us relish in the idea of laziness and comfort? Why is “doing nothing” revered? Yes it is essential to give the brain and body a break from the turmoil of work. But the reason why so many people go to work is so that, some time down the road, when their pension is full and their house is paid off and they’re free from their kids, they can retire. And do nothing. Retirement is on the tip of every employee’s tongue. But what so many fail to realize is that the very job they can’t wait to rid themselves of, is the very reason they are alive. It is purpose.
For a brief period of my life I worked in the call center for a large insurance company. There I overheard a fellow employee say that his ideal evening was to stay at home and binge watch Netflix with some beers so that he could turn his brain off until he went to sleep. He was also one of the many employees who complained about his work on a regular basis. As a result I couldn’t help but ask myself, “What kind of life is that?” To groan about what you’re doing for two thirds of the waking day, only to shut your brain off for the remaining third, continuing as such for thirty or forty years so you can turn your brain off full time until the brain and body shut down completely. Is that why we’re on this planet? It can’t be. And yet so much of our population is caught up in this idea.
We crave purpose. We thrive in a state of activity, despite how unpleasant it may be. Work makes us feel as though we’ve contributed to our fellow man, and makes us feel of use. And the relaxation that comes after a job well done is far more enjoyable than the feeling that comes with a constant state of relaxation. There must be balance between the two. But the only way we can feel that heightened sense of joy is by throwing ourselves completely into the work and then completely into relaxation. Just as Thich Nhat Hanh’s parable says:
Let’s say that you want to eat a peach for dessert one evening, but you decide to only allow yourself this luxury after washing the dishes. If, while washing the dishes, all you think of is eating the peach, what will you be thinking of when you eat the peach?
Delayed happiness will never arrive. Nor will it come with a sedentary life. We are meant to work and build and explore. The work should be revered just as much as the reward, and the two should be balanced until our final breath.
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