Non-essential workers - Are you happy?

It's day 29 of the lockdown in Norway due to the COVID-19 virus. For 29 days (minus the weekends) I've been working from home. So have many others, all over the world. But many have also carried on working in their regular environment. Why? Because they are essential. The rest of us left are non-essential. As we stumble forward in our home office, many might wonder: Am I happy with my career and is this my dream?

The first couple of days you read articles in newspapers with titles like: "Stick to your routine", "Top ten ways to make working from home go great", "Remember to stretch" and my favourite "Wear what you wear in the office". The first three-five days most will stick to that advice: getting up early, having a morning coffee, dress smart or formal and sign on to the said platform. After a while you wake up half an hour later, you have a large coffee from your favourite mug whilst watching a bit of telly and then you suddenly remember you've got a team meeting at 09:30, struggling to get that sleepy head of yours through a tight pique shirt. The perfect top to show that you mean business, but at the same time not too formal making it look fake. You know the drill.

Essential workers

That's the start of working from home. But after a while, when even you casual shorts, a large mug and team meeting becomes a routine, you start to examine things. You follow the news where you read about all the essential workers who are doing their best to manage this crisis, to updated lists on who gets childcare or who is allowed to go the office. It's essential services, front line workers, critical staff and so on. Terminology varies from country to country. But you know who I'm on about: nurses, doctors, ambulance staff, police officers, soldiers, armed forces staff, government officials, key infrastructure engineers etc. People needed to run the country. Other important mentions are supermarket staff, truck drivers and bus/train drivers, but there are many more. And rightly so, they are indeed essential workers and our countries wouldn't run without them. So thank you for your service.

But what does it do with peoples morale when you divide a workforce, a society, into essential and non-essential?

Me, myself and I

Then there's the rest of us. Then non-essential workers. Supporters. This brings me on to the stage: examining yourself, your life and your career. First, you might ask yourself: Why am I not essential? Why is my job not as important? Before you move on to What's the point of my job? Why should I bother? And finally, you might reach the Did I choose the right job? Do I contribute to society in the way I want? To help myself, my family, my friends and my society.

Now, by no means am I saying that non-essential workers aren't important to the running order of the world. On the contrary. Often it will be the thinkers, the scholars, the startups and the entrepreneurs that bring us forward. But to run society and to run the world? No.

Most people need or want to feel like they are useful, that they're making a difference. They need to feel like their life matters. Like their time matters. Therefore, a crisis like the one we find ourselves in now, it might open Pandora's box and force us to confront the question: Am I satisfied with my life and with my job? These are questions that many of us would simply dismiss and push down the line during a normal busy working day, running to and from the office, picking up kids, going shopping, going out and enjoying life. But all of a sudden we're sat here. Absolutely still. We might not feel as motivated about our job as before. Then our minds come alive and often starts asking one of the most dangerous questions in the universe:

What if?

Have you chosen the right career? Are you living your dream? Are you truly happy? I would wager that these are some of the questions that are running through peoples minds nowadays. Days of lockdown. Days of solitude. Days of being, or at least feeling like a non-essential. Now, if you come to the conclusion that you have chosen the right career, you are living your dream and you are truly happy: then great. Truly. Enjoy that and relish in it. But for others, it might not be the case. They've been so busy chasing their career, so busy running their life, that when they finally stop and take a beat, they realise that they might not be as happy as they thought. Maybe somewhere along the way they lost their dream. What was that initial fleeting dream as an impressionable 19-year-old finishing school? Astronaut? Police officer? Salesperson? Nurse? Doctor? Chef? Manager? It's normal to dream and that dreams change over time. As we grow, so does our perspective, our hopes and our dreams.

I hardly ever regret any decisions. I'm a firm believer of what happens is meant to happen, even it's the worst thing that's happened to you as a result of a choice you made. Regrets won't get you anywhere. Yet, we humans will often wander there. But remember, without all the experiences you've gone through you wouldn't be the person you are today.

But use this time we have been given now, working from home and lockdown: take stock of your life and ask yourself: Am I happy with my career and is this my dream?

If money was no object, what would you do?

I'm going to leave you with this snippet of a talk with Alan W. Watts who was a British writer and speaker. He was known for interpreting and popularising Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism for a Western audience. He is by far one of my favourite speakers to listen to because he poses many great questions.

Want to your life statement? Check out my article which will give you advice on how to write your life statement in order to gain a sense of direction.