Work
During the course of history, mankind worked primarily for money, as a means to make ends meet, to support the family, to thrive and ideally lead a better life.
Work comes in many forms, and alas isn`t always paid justly or even paid at all, excluding voluntary work of course.
Risky work sometimes comes with its perks, since employers would need to include some incentives if they are to find willing workers.
One fine and classic example of this, among others, is the construction of the New York skyscrapers, with courageous or bold to put it mildly (some say crazy) workers, as we can see in the famous photo, sitting on beams eating lunch several storeys up, feet dangling in the air. The `walking the steel` workers as they were called amidst other nicknames, risked their lives on a daily basis. The incentive was quite straight forward, not only being regarded as the latest macho, but getting paid around four dollars a day, which at the time was `only` twice the going rate of manual labour.
Risk was high though, as one can unfortunately expect, there were often accidents and deaths too.
According to official accounts, five workers died during the construction of the Empire State Building, although New York Daily News gave reports of 14 deaths, while a headline in the socialist magazine The New Masses spread unfounded rumours of up to 42 deaths.
Regarding the legendary photo aforementioned, lunch at the top of the skyscraper, with eleven workers sitting on the beam, eating, chatting with one lighting up a cigar, some say that it was staged to show resilience and ambition, which were much needed at the time.
Progress brought machinery, and this type of construction work was no more.
Women used to stay at home, taking care of children, keeping the house tidy, cooking, even that was work, albeit unpaid, but respected and important nonetheless. Housewives nowadays are called house managers and still support their men. However, the emancipation of women brought with it women working too, so the couple started being away from home and meeting in the evenings. Men started sharing house chores, since now even their women were working.
The continuous call for a level playing field with men is still ongoing which is a shame, as in some sections of work, women are paid less than men, when doing the same job!
Women working introduced us also to situations were men stay at home, since their women have a better payroll, thus the women in these scenarios are the bread winners. Work in this case inverted the once classic, even sexist if I may, positions of men and women in society.
It is imperative to point out that both housework and office work, or any other work really, are important, and couples need to support each other, opting for the best course of action to maintain their family and house, while being able to cover the ongoing bills and expenses.
We hear that ideally one has to find the dream job, being happy, almost excited to wake up for work, to do what you love and get paid for it. Pure bliss. But we know that this type of work isn`t easy to find or achieve.
When work isn`t embraced, or it`s done only for the monthly payslip, it can be a boring daily routine, in some cases even causing anxiety, depression, or loneliness if one is cast aside because results are not coming in, or targets are not being met. The same work can be an issue to some, a hurdle. Instead of assisting their happiness, it`s the cause of their gloom.
Modern times, with the dawn of the internet, brought new opportunities of work. People started working on computers, building websites, and having easy access to look for alternative or even a part-time work at the touch of a button.
Internet evolved, and social platforms mushroomed. Nowadays, the most famous ones are surely Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. The latter is well renowned for monetisation, or in other words, paying creators for uploading videos, just like a real job. Modern work.
Nowadays, YouTubers as they are called, can say that they work on that platform. It started as a hobby, an adventure, a portfolio of videos, vlogs, and ended as a full time job.
Although still not completely accepted as a job or work, especially by people of a certain age, YouTubers can say that they are living the dream, or working at their dream job. Mind you, it`s a lot of work, and there is no eight-to-five or normal office hours. It can also be a solitary work at times. YouTubers need to plan ahead, write scripts, set up props and lights, shoot the video, edit and upload on YouTube hoping that it is liked by many, and ideally viewers also subscribe to their channel, so that YouTubers can monetise from their videos, their job. Thus, YouTube can also be a workplace.
I believe that this is the way forward, that we will see many more similar jobs, online, virtual, producing videos, or going live like Nas Daily on Facebook.
At the end of the day, work should exist to cater for our needs, but we must find personal satisfaction in work, gratification, that learning curve, exposure, which help us to develop our skills and aim high, keeping us motivated, mingling with colleagues, keep sane.
Dream jobs don`t become a reality through magic, it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.
Finally, it all bores down to what makes you jump from bed in the morning, and hopefully it isn`t only because you`re obliged to. Work brings money which can be re-invested like in props for YouTubers, or travel to that desired destination. Take a break, have a holiday, because work-life balance is key to life fulfilment. Spend time with your loved ones too, we live only once.
Work is naturally essential if you`re not born rich, and it should be satisfying, with incentives to grow, develop and enrich not only your pocket but your life, your soul. We spend so many years, the majority of our lives in fact, working until pension, if we`re lucky enough to live till then. So, let`s try and make it bearable, even why not, fun. Work should be seen as a blessing.
