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The Wild Ride

While white-knuckling it to the office today - no, not because of daunting traffic or even because I was running late - I was struck by an ironic thought. I hate work. It is even fair to say, without a hint of exaggeration, that I despise it. I'm talking nails-against-a-chalkboard, someone-left-the-toilet-paper- roll-empty kind of hate. Work, to me, is like a hangover without the benefits of all that drinking first. The irony, you ask? It's this: I drive to work like a crazed wildebeest trying to escape a ravenous pack of lions. And apparently I'm not the only one.

Where the hell are we all going in such a hurry? What is this wild ride I'm on? Why, when I'm already going 80 miles per hour, is this blonde chick in the black Mercedes coupe aggressively riding my trunk while weaving between lanes looking for an opportunity to pass me? And why - when she finally breaks free and makes her first attempt to cut me off, while chomping her gum and yapping into her cell phone with that same reckless abandon - do I feel it necessary to punch the accelerator and block her as I "wave" to her with the more prominent half of a peace sign?

It makes me cringe to think of it after the fact. Because, truthfully, I wonder if there's something wrong with me. And this, in turn, has forced me to examine just why I feel such hostility. Here's what I've come up with: It's not so much that I hate work; it's that I resent having to work. I rail against the time it robs; the day-to-day drudgery of whining employees; the monotonous repetition; the lack of any real ability to do something even remotely creative; the working-for-a-paycheck-because -the-economy-sucks-and-I-can't -get-a-better-job-right-now skullduggery!

But wait.... Of course I resent work. Who doesn't? How many of us are fortunate enough to have landed that perfect job, doing precisely what we love, day in and day out? It's time to toughen up, cupcake, and get over it! We work because it is a necessity of life. How else would my children make it through college? How else would I be able to further improve the quality of my own life?

I have been afforded the opportunity to have anything I want - if I'm willing to work for it. And I am. So I need to slow down and be thankful for the opportunities I have; and spend less time resenting the fact that there are some things I simply can't have...at least for now.

Yes, life is a wild ride. But it should be fun. I'm pragmatic enough to know it won't always be a joy ride, but I'm also just enough of an optimist to recognize when it's time to slow down and enjoy the scenery - even if the destination isn't always a pleasant one.

Learn more about this author, Janice Capasso.
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