A young man I’m mentoring through poetry asked me while walking, “Genesis, what do you mean when you say ‘living life for a living?'”
At that same moment across the street, a happy, homeless drunk reclined on a bench and was waving at us. After we waved back, I replied to this young man, “It means we’ve discovered a way to get drunk on the air we breathe.”
Living life for a living, being truly human, is the goal to which everything moves. Becoming closer to whatever original purpose you believe in, right? How then, are we to do this if we’re slowly consumed for eight-plus hours of the day by many things that often don’t matter?
I mean, sure, many jobs may cover expenses for “stuff” you enjoy, but ask yourself this: “Am I operating in my zone of genius?” as psychologist Gay Hendricks would put it. Most reading this would respond “No.” Some may even think it’s impossible – that life is about working a job you hate. Or perhaps echoing from the depths, you hear the phrase whenever something negative happens: “That’s life!”
Is it?