DAY JOBS
I mentioned in a previous post that my day job and my ‘writing job’ feel a bit like Clark Kent and Superman. It’s not a specifically unique comparison and this isn’t a singular topic, as I don’t think the concept of a ‘day job’ is restricted to writers or even us creative types. The majority of people I know who consider themselves to have ‘day jobs’ are dancers, writers and comedians but I know a lot more people who just ‘do a job’, so they can do what they really love. Be that travelling, curling or lego.
My dad had this saying, ‘if work was fun, they’d call it leisure’. Which shows he came from a totally different generation than me. My generation has been raised on seeking happiness in our careers (and fortune). Not only are we supposed to make lots of money (hello BMW’s and Iphones) but you’re supposed to love doing it. That’s a huge amount of pressure. Not that my dad’s generation didn’t have ton’s of societal and financial pressures too but at least it was just assumed that you went to work in the mine but then came home and went curling. The point of a job was for practical reasons, not a reflection of the ‘real self’.
The main problem that I have with writing and having a day job is obviously time. Because I also want to go curling (for me yoga and dance) and still get in 1000 words a day. Which at the moment, I’m not reaching. In fact, I’m not making it much to yoga or dance either. I’m currently going through a ‘I don’t like my job and I have too many things to do, so I’m doing nothing’ phases. Which is obviously super healthy. And super unproductive. Though I am killing eight seasons of ‘The West Wing’.
Which brings me to another struggle of the day job: liking it or hating it. Having a job where people ignore you, your sole job is to stuff paper into envelopes or you press the same two buttons for 40 hours a week, is pretty mentally draining and demoralizing. But it gives you lots of motivation to focus on what you love. The flip side of this is actually liking your job. And although this has an amazing impact on you psyche, it can be killer on your word count/choreography/guitar practice/lego. You’re more motivated to work long hours, hang out with your nice colleagues after work and take the job home with you.
And here is the problem. Most comedians, dancers, writers and ultimate Frisbee players cannot make enough money from doing what they love alone, so a day job is a necessary evil. Bad jobs can catapult people into going back to school, becoming successful outside of work or even just having more hobbies than is physically possible. In some ways, I feel like my writing is holding me back from the job I’m supposed to be doing (just like it happens in the movies).
But it all comes back to the Superman aspect. I will have jobs that I hate and that I love but I will always have that one thing I can come home to that makes me feel like me. Like I’m secretly a superhero when I’m pressing those two buttons over and over from 9 to 5. If I turned my love into my job, wouldn’t that ruin some of the romance? And then I’d have to find a new hobby to turn to in evenings, which could start a vicious constant career changing circle.
Going back to the Superman and Clark Kent binary, Superman would not be nearly as interesting without his more relatable secret identity. Although in all truth I really should have picked a different superhero, as I don’t find Superman all the relatable anyways and I’ve also never seen him do Arrow pull ups ala Stephen Amell but I digress…though seriously how is anyone that fit?
Anyways, I think we all need that two-sided coin element to ourselves. We need to be able to have a conversation about our weekend and talk about doing some gardening and errands like a professional and not talk about how you ‘accidently’ slept in your yard after Friday night. We aren’t one person to everyone, so how can we have one job to fit our person?
Though I suppose that’s the joy of being a writer: I can be a cop, a space traveler or even a temp. Which is kind of like a superpower.
Originally posted - November 12, 2014
