On finding a job, settling in to working life and some other shiz

Last time I wrote a blog on here, I was in a completely different head space to where I am today.

After an epic struggle against underemployment, I finally found a job.


Stable employment with a decent salary, variety, a fair employer, and room to move around have been good for me.

There's been a lot to learn as well. Plenty of duties to get on top of and shit loads of names to remember, but I'm lavishing it and I feel very fortunate.

Writing about problems, it seems, is easier than singing from the rooftops about life being good.

(Note: I was singing from rooftops for a while but the neighbours kept complaining) 

I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anym.. oh wait

I've been thinking about topics that would inspire me to write more often..

Strange random rant:

I'm a bit of a news junkie, despite being out of the journalism game for quite some time. I am strongly opinionated but I've scarcely written about anything political. That would take this blog in a very different direction. For example, how come climate change hasn't been in the news as much this year as in previous years? Is it that it's no longer news? That everyone has accepted that this is inevitable?
And what about the GFC (Global Financial Crisis)? Have the underlying causes of it been fully addressed? Will it happen again? - Anyway, you get the idea. These are some things I'd like to explore in more detail.

Back to my original thought:

It's one full year since I got back from Indonesia. One full year without leaving New Zealand!

Travel occupies a space in the back of my mind and once in a while I access that compartment, clear away the cobwebs and think of new places I might like to go to in future.

Working life gives you much more money, stability, ability to buy the things you want.

My brain

Fortunately my new job also involves a lot of travel. I'll be on the road a couple of months each year.

On the other hand - full-time work makes taking long, exotic holidays much more difficult than when you are a student. You have to be much more picky about where you want to go because you don't have the long expanses of time to meander around many different countries.

Perhaps I have to bring my focus closer to home and think about exploring more of NZ..

Some future blog topics:

* Life in Wellington
* Getting things done before 30 - does a child spell the end to travel?

Comment or questions always welcome, random abuse will also be acceptable, if properly formulated. 

Rant: In search of work and meaning in a time of austerity

Searching for meaning and questioning the system is what a lot of people in their twenties do, right?

At least that's the case with me.

I'm an atheist, so I feel that this life is all we have. That makes your time more precious, because when you die, that's it.

A job doesn't have to be the only thing that defines your life, but because you spend most of your time doing it, it becomes an identifier  - something that people will immediately ask when they meet each other: "What do you do?"

I've been temping for a while now and it's not terrible but just not particularly stimulating. I've had a crack at various jobs in the public sector and been luckier than some by being short-listed for several pretty great jobs.

Unfortunately I haven't sealed the deal and have missed out when employers have chosen more experienced people (usually older) than myself.

If my only hope is to continue doing average work, that I don't enjoy for average wages then I'll either.

A: Leave NZ and go to Australia or elsewhere
B: Retrain in a different field

I decided a while ago that I wasn't very interested in mainstream news journalism, which is what I was trained to do and the internship I received. Even if I was rearing to go - there are few jobs available in NZ and the pay is rather lowly.

One thing that occurred to me is how little control we have over our ability to choose how we work. We may be able to choose the field we want to work in through our training and studies but when the economy is down, there might be few jobs available in our field.

Westerners are in a privileged position compared to a lot of the world in terms of what jobs we do, but still, think to yourself about how many people you hear say "I love my job."

I think many people settle for work that "pays the bills" or is "not too bad" rather than something they feel passionate about. Maybe it's just easier to live life that way. Not everyone can be a presenter on Top Gear or have millions of dollars and loads of free time.

You vs the prevailing economic circumstances

Is it too idealistic to think that people should work in jobs they love and that us their abilities? Wouldn't that ultimately be more productive.
When I reflect on most of the office jobs I've done, and it's been a few now - people just look a bit blank as they sit at their screens. It's not a very natural way to be - sitting still for eight hours or more per day.

The competition for the most prestigious jobs and highest pay, and the measurement of self-worth in material possessions leads us to dissatisfaction.

We are still lead to believe everything is all right, that the dream is alive. That our pursuit of money and stuff is right.

I have learned that money doesn't bring you lasting fulfilment.

Even if we train in a particular field and get a good university education with good marks, that doesn't guarantee you will be able to find a good-paying, satisfying job.

Our system demands that you work to earn money to live. - That's fair enough, but if the economy is shit, your choices over what kinds of jobs you can get are quite restricted. The ups and downs of the capitalist system are something that we mostly accept, but when you really think about it, the whole money system on which are society is based on is just pretend isn't it?

Most money in the world doesn't physically exist and isn't backed by something of concrete physical value like gold, or assets. Banks issue far more loans than they actually physically hold in cash. They can do so because they are legitimised by Governments to do so. Borrowing helps growth, or so the theory goes..

 Economic growth which is always expounded by leaders as a great thing is what most Western societies strive for.

Here are a few reasons why debt is bad.
From my own experience paying off my student loan, it does sort of hang over you. The prospect of taking on board a massive mortgage to fund my first home is not something I'll rush into.

When you hear that the low growth and shitty economic conditions could carry on for many years you start to think.. Why the hell don't we all just start again?

Surely, if most of the countries in the world are in debt and the economic system we have is advantaging a small few at the expense of most of the rest of the world, then we, as a global society have to say - fuck this!
I'm not imagining that this will suddenly happen because the people who have a lot of money and power won't relinquish it easily and large change can be a scary thing.
Inequality is growing everywhere in the world and quite substantially so in New Zealand over the last 25 years..

The competition for the most prestigious jobs and highest pay, and the measurement of self-worth in material possessions leads us to dissatisfaction.

So what are the solutions?

It would be premature of me to think that I could come up with something that hasn't been thought of before.. I just know the way we are doing things now is not sustainable for people or the planet. We need to rethink a lot of stuff..

Will society continue down this road? If so, what are the consequences?

http://www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/articles/TAM27/Growth.html

The art of staying put. When to lay down roots and stop travelling?

"And remember, no matter where you go, there you are."- Confucius

People travel for a lot of reasons. To escape, to discover new places, for a holiday, for pleasure, for business etc.

Sometimes people move to a new place to escape how they feel about their own life. I once read a book "The Art of Travel" by Alain de Botton.  In the book, Botton describes how people tend to grossly overestimate how much of a difference travelling to a new place will make them feel. A person may fantasise about all the wonders going to a new place will bring.

"But the reality of travel seldom matches our daydreams. The tragi-comic disappointments are well-known: the disorientation, the mid-afternoon despair, the lethargy before ancient ruins. And yet the reasons behind such disappointments are rarely explored."

Our thoughts, our emotions and desires will come with us to a new place. We'll still feel hungry, tired or frustrated like we would at home.

I often imagined that everything will be different once I got to a new city or country. While my exterior circumstances did change, my internal feelings and state of mind remained quite consistent.

I recently moved to a new city and decided to settle here with my girlfriend in an attempt to get some stability and routine in my life.

Some of the advantages of staying put are that you can network, join clubs, regularly see friends and family and, importantly, find a stable job where you can earn money.

Thankfully, I'm finally in a place where things in my life are coming together. I've found a cool flat with a great group of people (nearly all Couch Surfers) and job opportunities are gradually presenting themselves.

There are disadvantages to settling down too.
You face a kind of groundhog day - constantly seeing the same people and doing slight variations on the same thing. Settling down also means finding a job and potentially a shitty job, especially in this tight-economy of ours.

Life as Bill Murray wouldn't be so bad..

A question that has crossed my mind is what if settling down just means a mediocre life? If you spend most of your time working and if your job is crap and the money isn't that great, what is the point of it all?

I'm starting to get the impression that a lot of people just switch off when they go to work and concentrate on their other pursuits outside of the office. The fact is, staying in work you are indifferent to, or worse, hate is bad for your health.

Status plays a big part in Western Society and it's hard not to join the rat race when you are trading so much of your time in to do something that you are not necessarily passionate about. If you don't feel fulfilled by your work then it would seem ones only measure of value is how much you earn. If my life was just all about earning dosh that's a pretty empty approach to life.

I've had periods where I had comparatively large sums of money and while it made things a bit easier, it didn't magically make everything perfect.
If I knew that I wasn't really going to find a job I really loved in the long-term then my attitude would be, fuck it, may as well get as much money as I can and take a career in something I feel is a bit soulless such as advertising.

What should you do in a tight economy? Knuckle down and keep trying to find that special job or just fuck around and do what you want?
I guess staying put and travelling are not entirely mutually exclusive but having a job is going to pretty much limit your holiday breaks to a month a year. If you want some serious travel, a month doesn't suffice!

I'm staying put for a least a while but travel always beckons.. When I was in Europe and Asia, there were always places I wish I could have stayed longer or new cities that I wished I could have seen but it didn't fit into my schedule.

I'll be back on the road someday and next trip, I'll book a round the world ticket and be gone for a year or more! 

I can imagine there will be a time when I get itchy feet once again but for now I'm happy enough staying put. 

Why do you travel and what would it take to make you settle down in one city?

Are we there yet? Fed on the promise of a better tomorrow

Just a quick post.

It's been a while since I've written and feel I should at least put something on here.

I am about to leave Christchurch, my job and head to the North island. For me, it is a bit of a leap into the unknown.

My plan is to get a great career job in Wellington, find a flat and settle into a new life. I have my mind set on a particular position and have just sent in my application.

These last few months, I have been bored out of my brain. My life hasn't been quite where I've wanted it to be.

What has kept me going is the idea: "things are going to get better." I wonder how people sustain themselves when they find themselves in a life rut? If you don't have hope that your situation will improve, one would ask: what's the point of it all?

A bit of optimism is essential. If you find yourself in a boring job, in a semi-destroyed city, doing a long distance relationship for five months, with a less than ideal social life and thinking endlessly about your career and everything under the sun, there is a simple remedy: hope.

Western society, including movies, books and our roll models like to feed us feel-good slogans about how we can all achieve our dreams and live a fulfilling life. I am starting to think that not all of us can. I get the impression a lot of people find themselves trapped in situations they hadn't anticipated. Perhaps they are working a job they don't like and can't decide what their passion is. As the years tick by, it might be harder and harder for them to pull themselves into a different direction.

What if you felt that all you had ahead of you was a boring, unsatisfying monotony? A groundhog day of the mundane and mediocre?

A lot of self-help books say that happiness is an inside job and I suppose they are right. Even when things seem tough or boring or you're disinterested in what's going on around you, at least you have the power to change your attitude. There are always things to feel grateful for. Writing down goals has helped me too.

Here is an interesting link to video about finding your passion. 


What keeps you going in a tough time?