Inspiration Engine V.3 – Work and Social Mores

This is a series I do once a week on interesting blog posts I’ve found, posts that make me think. This week, the posts took me on a familiar thought experiment about living a satisfying life.

1. The GOP and the Histoprial Obsession with Work in America –

I’ve been thinking about the Protestant Work ethic lately as I’ve been trying to think about what I’m going to do with my life. Being in this position right now is not fulfilling me.  I can work my ass off. I can tell myself it’s for a Catholic agency and I’m serving people as I am called to do by my loving Higher Power. But it’s not doing it for me.  I’m not challenged. At the same time, taking time off is terrible for me – I feel so guilty.  Isn’t that crazy?

This blog post challenged me to think about that but, unfortunately, didn’t offer any insight into how to NOT participate in this system I am ensconced in.  How do I work around it?  Can I? I started thinking about moving to France or somewhere with a less intensive protestant work ethic. Maybe I should read about the French and what they do.  So I began to think about that, and this also lead me to my next search…

…where i found this:

2. French Social Customs, Etiquette, and Idiosyncrasies

This post specifically talks about things like the long lunch and other French, well, idiosyncrasies, and how it can be frustrating. For example, how it can be frustrating when you’re trying to take care of business and business is closed. That would never happen here (U.S.). So perhaps this is just a matter of “the grass is greener?”

3. So then, as I was thinking about all of this age old question of balance, I looked up “priorities” and stumbled upon Hundred Goals blog, that pretty much speaks to this very question.  The author of this blog, he lists 100 goals that he has, and it kind of reminds me of an adult version of a bucket list.  Like, not something I want/hope to do, but something I will do. (No offense intended to bucket listers – perhaps that what they already do; I just don’t think of them that way.)

I love this dude’s philosophy, about setting goals that people will work to accomplish. “Those who dream and believe will do whatever it takes to make their dreams a reality.” I believe that, at my core, and I think I forgot about that – we are so much stronger than we think we are.