Is work a blessing or curse?

Today, we had our sociology of work module.....
hmm... as usual, it was erm.... boring.... and the slides were wordy....

Thus, I doze off for awhile.....

Anyway, we had tutorial after that 2 hrs of lecture (luckily with 1 hr break before the tutorial).

Guess what? The class suppose to do a debate during that 50 mins of tutorial with 10 mins of discussions and then get 10 ppl out to debate.

Well, we were against the idea of debating as only 10 ppl can participate and we told suggest that we wanted to have open discussions where all of us just throw in our thoughts. He seems to give in to us, or rather, he cannot "control" us. I was wondering, are we that rebellious? Haha...

The following are the points we came out with regarding work as a:

Blessing:

• can get $$$$
• meaningful and purposeful
• cognitive stimulation
• drives the economy
• expand social circle
• increases self- esteem
• empowerment
• provides a direction in one's life
• get "something" in return
• self discovery
• contribute back to society
• a form of respite
• "leisure"

Curse

• tiring
• no time for family
• work may not be meaningful
• have to work hard to meet departmental target/expectations
• stress --> depression
• decrease social circle (no time for friends)
• no time to exercise
• mis-guide a person's life
• low participants in leisure activities
• cannot bring money to grave (thus why work?)
• back stabbing to maintain status
• too economic
• too competitive
• occupational hazards
• gender biasness
• decrease quality time with family
• bias towards ppl with disbility

Were the above familar with you guys?

Hmmm... well, whether work is a blessing or a curse depends on the following:

• social status
• gender
• culture
• nature of job

The above are all from today's lectures and tutorial.

My thoughts:

Well, the most important thing is to define what is work. If you think work is just a job and something that you do for money only, then you may not enjoy it.

On the other hand, if you think that you work not just for money but to find meaning in life and self discovery. Then it is more than just an occupation. (an occupation is something that keeps a person occupied)

Thus, if any of you are frustrated at work. Stop to think, why do you choose this job/work at the first place? For the salary that you are drawing? Or for the interest? Or because it gives you a meaning in life? Helps you to find what you are finding in life?

You cannot change what you do at work (or maybe you can) but you can change the way you view them. There are always 2 sides to a coin.

"Life is like a rollar coaster. There are times when it is up and times when it is down. You can dread about the journey or enjoy every moment of it. The choice is yours."

- From my inspiration poster