Earlier last year, I decided to take a break from work. I was working with a financial services provider and when I told anyone that I'm taking a break from a 9-to-5 setup their immediate reaction was - "Oh wow! Wish I had the courage to do it. Finance burns you out so quickly, doesn't it?"
The latter derives from the former but in reality, I wasn't actually burnt out. You see, there was a combination of internal (firm-specific) and external (domestic regulation and global depression) factors that was leading to a change of strategy in the firm I was working with. The job role I was working on was fantastic! I was among the lucky few I guess, whose first job is a dream job. I cared about my business, and felt it close to my heart. It was sad for me to see the firm lose focus, and for business to dry up. And so the loss of a very niche very beloved job profile was the reason I decided to take a break, not a burn out.
But that's too long a story to tell everyone, so I stuck to the yes-burnt-out-finance-sucks routine. The truth, as cliched as it sounds, is that I loved my work enough to not consider it work.
What I don't love is lingering nothingness.
It may sound like a dream - sit around all day (quite like what we imagine a govt office is).. Get a salary check at the end of the month (quite unlike what we know the govt office pay is). Life goes on. But it doesn't really. Prolonged stagnation can turn into the worst form of torture. It's something that you sometimes live through, mainly because of inertia. But the longer it lasts, the more suffocating it becomes.
The other end of the spectrum is the nothingness where you stop existing outside of work pressures. The kind of place where so many of my peers seem to be stuck in. Especially in finance, where it is a common crib to "wake up every morning, dreading the day that lies ahead." That's the kind of life I have nightmares about waking up into. And there is no way such a life can be healthy for you in the long run, or the short run.
So when someone asks me what kind of a job profile I'm looking for, the answer is simple - something that excites me. Make that your aim in life.. to stay excited about what you're doing, and to find the courage to change gears if it isn't working for you.
