A Different Way

 

It's perfectly fine to sit back and say, It Cannot Be Done.  Just don't interrupt those who are actually getting it done.

I wish I could give credit for this quote, but it was just something I saw and pasted into this post.  Maybe the author is out there, but admittedly I didn't do any research to track them down.  Sorry to whomever wrote this, but it is poignent and I wanted to include it in today's post.  I've spent a lot of my life being told, "You can't" or "It can't be done."  The wise thing to do in such circumstances is to first ask, "Why?"  If no one really has a good answer, then maybe it's time to follow your gut instead of the naysayers.  

There's been a lot of negative talk from people in my generation and the older ones as well about all these young people who don't want to spend the majority of their lives working 40+ hours per week and as much as I don't want to be a traitor to my generation, I've been one of those people my whole life.  I remember in my early 20s working in an office and observing that my co-workers typically spent at least 1/3 of their day doing anything but work and this was before cell phones and social media were in the mix.  They were net-surfing, online shopping, gossiping about the latest episode of The Bachelor or about fellow co-workers, but working? Not so much.  

Most of them got their actual work done in about 4 hours out of the 9 that they were in the office.  Likewise, I got my work done in about 1/3 to 1/2 of the time I was there and then spent a lot of time trying to "look busy."  I also did all of my work (data-entry) on a computer in a room by myself.  So, I asked my boss if I could A.) work remotely, only stopping in the office three times per week to pick up and drop off the paper forms, and B.) get paid on a salary basis rather than an hourly basis as I could do the same amount of work in less time.  The answer was, NO.  I followed up with, Why? And no one could give me an answer.  It was just,

 No.  

Why? 

Because.  

Because why?

Because we just don't do things that way.

Why?

Because.

I was just baffled by the fact that everyone seemed to be OK with wasting so much of their time (and their lives when you start adding up those net surfing hours) at work instead of at home with family or living their actual lives.  It seemed like a broken and inefficient system that no one loved but everyone went along with..."because."

A little over two decades later Covid came along and proved that not only could my idea be done, but for many people out there, like myself, productivity went up as hours spent in the office went down.  So, why did my suggestions 20 years prior to global lockdown seem so far fetched?  Because there's a system in place and the majority of people just go along with it whether they like it or not.  But, there will always be people who just cannot abide the mould.  We have to break out and do our own thing no matter what it costs.  I am thankful that I have a spouse who agreed with me and was willing to make sacrifices to live on our terms instead of just going along and being miserable.

Side note here that so many young people don't seem to realize: It is important to note that if you want to live on your own terms, there will be sacrifices and life will be harder.  If it were easy, everyone would do it already, and that seems to be the element that most people overlook when trying to forge their own path.  They want to do something outside of the norm and have it be easy and have everyone love, agree with, and accept them.  Oh, no, dear, that's not how being an outsider works.   Follow your own path, and be prepared to fight for every step you take on it, or go with the crowd on the well worn path and hate every second of it.  Learn to be Ok with disapproval.

Me?  I haven't always loved the fight, but I have always been willing to face it in order to live life on my own terms rather than go with the flow and feel like I am wasting my life.  Along the way, I have run into plenty of opposition, and I've learned to listen and consider what they're saying, but the moment I ask why and they don't have any better answer than, "because, this is how it's done." I usually just go ahead and make my own way.  It's truly is perfectly fine to say it can't be done, just stay out of the way of the people who are actually doing it.

Outfit Info:  A Toast to Julie Dress by Retrolicious, Sweater from YeMak, Tights and headband are old from Shein, Heels are old