Society puts so much value in people having a good, safe job and earning money that going another way is being frowned upon. It is interesting how it already starts in school and how it is what our parents taught us. Find a good job, stay there as long as you can, earn good money and never complain. Be happy and grateful for the opportunity you got and the little money you make, just enough to pay all your bills including taxes and maybe save a little to go on a vacation or two. But never enough to really be able to afford something big, like maybe a house.

And just to be able to earn some more money, go to college, get a degree spend another three years in school wasting a lot of time learning things you won’t need in the occupation you are planning on working in after. It makes perfect sense.

So, we are evidentially told to be happy and grateful to spend a good forty-two hours a week, working for someone else who gives us as little money as they’re allowed to. We should be grateful to give forty-two hours of our life away to a stranger to earn just enough money to get by, every single week. Having little to no time to focus on ourselves, our families and the things that bring us joy. We are being taught that this is a fair trade off.

It is not.

I decided to prioritize spending my time in a way that makes me happy over earning twice as much as I do now and still not have anything to show for. The difference is I spend around fifteen hours a week working for someone else, I can set my own schedule and the rest of the time I do what I want and what brings me joy. Yes, money is an issue and usually pretty tight, but I’ve never been more balanced, and I’ve never been more content with my life. 

Because for the first time I live my life the way I want to. I’m in control. I don’t have to follow another person’s schedule and give up spending time with my family or focusing on my writing and painting. 

We are taught the wrong priorities from childhood on and I firmly believe this is why so many people are so unhappy.