In mid-2015 my now-fiancee and I graduated college and moved to Salt Lake City for her PhD. I got a job at a typical corporate company as an entry level software developer. 6 months into that job, the company merged with another and I (and many other programmers in my department) got laid off. I got another IT job a month later and have been at it ever since. My current company has since bought a smaller company and was sold to a new owner, but luckily no layoffs this time. Anyways, it was during this second real-world job that I discovered simple living and I wanted to share the good and bad things I've learned from it.
The Good
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Transcending the desire for money, things, and titles. When I graduated from college, I wanted the American dream. The big house, the fancy car, the big job title with the 6 figure salary, and all the gadgets and gizmos. But since starting simple living, my desire for those things has vanished. All I want now is a modest house, a simple car, a job I can tolerate that pays the bills (preferably non-corporate), and the things I need for my hobbies.
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Prioritizing my personal life over my work life. This was never an issue before simple living, but it's when I started simple living that I really gave it a spot on my priority list. I prioritize my physical health, mental health, emotional health, family life, and overall happiness well above my job. This means that parkour, ninja warrior, meditation, spending time with my dog and fiancee, and just doing things that make me happy will always trump working overtime at the office or at home.
The Bad
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Disdain for big companies. Ever since I got laid off, I've had this perception that big companies are the personification of greed and desire for power. They don't really want to help people. They just want as much money and power in their industry as they can get, and after that, fuck all. And I took pleasure in seeing and imagining big companies crumbling...Toys R Us, Sears, Wells Fargo, Starbucks, Apple, Amazon, Facebook...and thinking "Serves those greedy bastards right." We'd see a commercial for the new iPhone and I'd think "Screw you Apple." I often think I hate my job because of the job itself, but I think what I hate more is the fact that I work for one of those big companies that will lay me off in a heartbeat if it helps profits, just like the last company did. But in talking with my fiancee last night, she pointed out that all big companies once started off small with a vision of just wanting to make a good product. We have a local pet store that I love going to because they are small and local, but when my fiancee asked if I'd still support them if they some day became as large as PetSmart or Petco, I couldn't answer. I felt so conflicted inside and I knew I was wrong.
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Disdain for career ambition. Like I said before, my desire to "climb the ladder" has vanished since I started simple living. Right now I have a job I can tolerate that pays the bills and allows me to save plenty for the future. But I have no interest in climbing the ladder, working 12 hour days to become the Chief Executive Vice President of Technical Operations Management. And because of that, I've been judging people that do that. I see a guy in a suit getting home from work at 7pm and think "What the hell are you doing with your life? Stop working so much and go home to your family!" I've prioritized that so much in my life that I've began to feel like it's what everyone else should be doing. And if you were that type of person, I automatically thought you were neglecting your personal life and your family. My fiancee is getting her PhD in hopes of opening up her own lab some day and has expressed interest in maybe starting her own science-related company, but I haven't been the most supportive of either because I know that both would take a lot of time and I'm afraid of seeing her become the spouse that I and the kids never see because she works so much, even though family has always been her #1 priority and she would drop what she's doing if she noticed the family was being neglected. But she loves what she does and I shouldn't take that away from her. It's those kinds of people that allow the world to advance like it has. Some people just really like their jobs and are able to balance work and person life. And not everyone has the same idea of balance.
My fiancee and I think these negative things have really affected my happiness (ironically), so I'm trying to rid myself of them.
Submitted November 19, 2018 at 09:06AM by SimpleDragon3007 https://ift.tt/2qTWoDF
