… I come from a line of hard working people. On both my father and mother sides , they have very strong work ethics. My father was self financing from a very young age and literally saw himself through school, he worked in the evenings to pay for his schooling. He was a very brilliant man and his hard work paid off, he got a scholarship to study abroad, which he took and the rest was history.
My Mum travelled with my Dad and she worked very hard while my Dad was studying. Back home she ran various businesses. Even now in her very honourable age she is still working. The woman doesn’t know how to do nothing!
So it is no surprise, being their offspring, I do like to work, I have a strong work ethics, I enjoy work and very much love the reward of hard work. I am a very rational being, I enjoy profitable pursuit. I wouldn’t call myself a materialistic person, but I enjoy the process of making money, I love the high of striking a deal.
However lately I started to observe something about myself. It seemed my sense of self was very much tied to my work, if I am not doing some kind of career or money making work, I feel I am not accomplishing. I hope I am not a workaholic! I doubt I am, but who knows?
I began to reflect that a life well lived is a balanced life, not just work, work, work! We are multi-faceted being and we must cater to the various facet of our lifes. Most of us are in relationships, have children, siblings, parents, have loads of experiences that can be passed on to others, have interests outside of work, are thought leaders etc. Catering to these aspects of our lifes might not be financially rewarding but sure brings about a more fulfilled and well balanced life. In addition we also need to cater to our mental development, health and wellbeing, emotional health, spiritual life etc. We must also enjoy life, actually thoroughly enjoy life, this ought to be worked into our pursuit.
As I ran around today attending to life in it’s broadest form, not lazing around but having not stepped foot in my office, a tinge of guilt was about to creep in. I quickly reminded myself ‘I am more than work’! My self worth must not stem from just one narrow facet of who I am.
As I continue to work hard, play hard, I remind myself, my self efficacy must not be from anything I can do (don’t get me wrong, I still strongly believe in hard work) but must come from the understanding that just being a human being makes me worthy.
I am more …!
You are more ….!
Beautiful Ivory 