I was talking to one of my friends recently and one of the things we were discussing was how most of us define our identities purely via work. For many of us, just the fact that we have some place we can go for 8-10 hours is enough for our identity gratification.
I am not saying work does not define our identity – it does!! A big part of it but is it 100%? What happens when you stop working for a while. People feel depressed. It’s funny that in spite of having full days to themselves with choice of whatever they want to do, people feel low, depressed.
Being out of job is definitely concerning because of financial reasons or figuring out what you want to do next. But if that worry occupies 100% of your time then isn’t your identity defined 100% by your work.
It’s weird that when people have work they don’t have time to sit back, think & most importantly enjoy things outside work. When they are with out work, they don’t want to sit back & think & most importantly enjoy.
I am old fashioned when it comes to balancing personal & professional life. I believe to be really happy you have to have your identity balanced by your work & your personal life. Too much dependency on one or the other might mean moments missed out in life.
Identity = profession + aspirations + mental excercises + physical excercises + various body harmone levels + people, animals, & vegitation around you