Wishing your life away | The dark side of the corporate world

It could be something instinctive, or maybe society pushes us to do it - or it could be a mix of both. For some reason, it seems like we are always in some sort of a rush of needing the next thing, wanting more, and wanting it FAST. We're in a setting where we need to do things. We need to get places. Once we get there, we want more.

What's next? We constantly and unendingly ask ourselves.

It's a setting where everything is in service for the next thing. Society in modern terms is almost entirely preparatory for the future, and that's probably a prime component of the dilemma modern-day employees are in. We are told that what we are doing right now is for what we will be doing next.

Starting as a young child, kindergarten is for what is to be done next - elementary school. Elementary school is for high school and high school is college. We progress through this journey, constantly yearning to be the bigger kid until we suddenly realise that our careers have begun. Just as our minds have been trained to yearn to become the bigger kid in the next grade in school, we happen to experience something very similar in our careers, where each level is for the next level. We can't wait until we progress through the career path and get that big promotion, after which we happen to yearn for another, and another, and another. We can't wait until we matter a tiny bit more in a company or perhaps a little bit more successful in our personal lives.

Many years later, we come to a point of realisation. A blind alley. A dead end. We've made it as far as we could go. We're exhausted. There are no more promotions we can work towards, and we can't wait until we can just forget about all of this and just retire into that state of peace of mind where we picture ourselves not having to report to work every single day. Not long after retirement, we might reflect on the journey so far and wonder to ourselves, what the hell was that?

In all of our desire for the next, it seems like we've often neglected to just pause and contemplate - what is this all for? Where is all of this heading towards?

One possible outcome of this retirement induced reflection is where (hopefully), we will find a sense of pride, enjoyment and purpose, but if we haven't been careful and lived life as one big sprint where we dashed in search of our desire for the next whilst being constantly unsatisfied with what we had, we would find discomfort and a sense of regret that would hardly be hard to overcome at this moment. A deep understanding that all of the things we couldn't wait for and all of the things we constantly rushed towards never truly came. It was in fact an illusion. At this moment, we'd probably be looking at life with most of it having been lived - with a small slice of the pie left, quickly getting rotten. We might wonder why we never really enjoyed the rest of the pie while it was still fresh.

How did we miss it?

Why did we wish it all away just to end up here?

To everyone who still has most of the pie left, it doesn't have to get to this point to realise that it is all an illusion or to at least pause, consider, and comprehend the idea. Progression is great. Trying new things, evolving and working towards your goals are all amazing, but when it gets to the point where it prevents us from ever being able to appreciate that this moment right now, is also great, you've gone too far. This moment is meaningful. It is a beautiful and profound achievement in it itself. It's worth appreciating because you don't get one big full pie at the end of life. You eat it all along the way.

Live in the moment and be appreciative towards it :)