Live to work or work to live?

Most people fall into one of two categories when it comes to work life: those who live to work and those who work to live. The idea is that if you live to work you are passionate about your job and it becomes integrated into your life so that the lines between work and play become blurred. If you work to live your job is something that you tolerate in order to finance the things you do in your completely separate life away from work.

Aside from a brief period in high school when I considered being a bus driver, I have always thought I'm the type to live to work. I'm all for following passions and having a meaningful and fulfilling job that you want to talk about at the supper table. I think that I have subconsciously attached virtue to this perspective, while mentally accusing those who work to live of selling out. If you're true to yourself you have to follow your dreams, even if it means being destined to a life of low-paying jobs, otherwise you can't really achieve true happiness and fulfillment. Or can you?

As I am desperately trying to figure out what to do in post-degree life and not having any luck finding a relevant job, I have to ask if the work to live camp might just be on to something. Money really does make the world go 'round whether we like it or not. Maybe it would be better to have a well paying job that we can tolerate rather than a poorly paying job that we love. If we're lacking fulfullment at work, then we can buy it after hours. Depending on what our passions are, we could use our money to travel, buy equipment for a hobby, or take time off to volunteer. We could buy that dream home with a view and retire early to follow passions that we couldn't while we were working. What's so bad about that?

I look around at my peers and both camps are well represented. However, I don't think that people always choose the camp that they are in. There are the underemployed who would gladly take a tolerable, well paying job if they could find one, and there are the lucky ones who have landed a well paying job that they may not necessarily be passionate about. I think that these people are faced with the most difficult decision of all: whether or not to give up their job in favour of a lower-paying one that they love.

It was after quite a lot of thought that I realized the choice isn't really this black and white. Why do I have this perception that great jobs don't pay well? Perhaps it's a product of my environment for the past 5 years. I have been surrounded by fellow geography students whose idea of "great jobs" are often grassroots, save the earth, get back to nature kind of things that are definitely on the low end of the salary scale. But (get ready for the revelation of the century) great jobs really don't have to pay poorly! (Thank you Captain Obvious.) If I pursue a well paying job it doesn't mean that I'm selling out and signing up for a life of drudgery and sorrow!

It's amazing how important revelations can seem so obvious once they're made and how our minds can resist these realizations for so long.

Why pisaster?

If Megan had a blog she'd call it "The benefits of porridge", but mine is called "pisaster" and she assures me that's just as cool. Pisaster ochraceus is a common species of sea star on our coast, also known as the ochre star. There's no particular reason why I chose this name except that I think it's a cool word and I am fascinated by the ocean and everything in it. Oh yeah, and all the other ideas I had for URLs were taken.

Here goes my latest blogging whim. I have lots of plans to make this really interesting so that lots of people will read it. Enthusiasm is worth something, right?