"Well, I'll lay my boots to rest when I'm impressed. So, I triple knot 'em and forgot 'em."~Daylight by Aesop Rock

I’m going to respond to Holly Hoffman’s post about being a workaholic, or using the term as a vail for lacking better things to do with one’s life.

I accept Holly’s point that no job or goal in life is worth one’s health. I’ve honestly felt quite sympathetic regarding her repeated health issues and can fully agree with her decisions to scale back her ambitions whether permanently or temporarily. Sometimes young people get ahead of themselves with what they think can be piled on their plates and just overwhelm their senses completely by working all day, all night, not sleeping enough and neglecting their bodies. Complete balance always seems to be just out of reach, but taking time out to at least seek a balance in most aspects of your life is healthy and smart.

However, I also feel if people are interested in bettering themselves, their situations or the lives of people around them through superhuman feats of work, weird sleep patterns and periods of irrational emotional behavior, more power to them. I come from a poor, single-parent family, so already in my quite modest income, I find myself upwardly mobile. How about that? That’s thanks to my hard work and the opportunities that some kind people have offered (that I made sure to capitalize on) I find myself in an even better position to continue bettering myself.

At 25, working a full time job, a part time job and running a small freelance copy writing operation, I am working more now than I ever have in my whole life. I’m taking care of myself physically, but I don’t sleep as much as I should. However, some new developments, specifically this new part time gig, have given me the new vigor I need to push through the weariness and emotional pain of being tired so that I can eventually take my current situation to the next level. Plus I’m refusing to look for meaningless work anymore. I crave meaning and finding meaning on the messy bedroom floor of life is no easy task. It takes work.

Do I have a social life? Yes, I do. I see my friends, I go to hip hop shows, I go to cafes and I go on dates. Do I have a huge block of free time for someone else to fill up? No, I don’t. However, I feel like I can still be the best person possible to the people I care about because I do in fact care about them.

So, what does this all say about me? Well, I happen to be in good physical health, of strong mind and of solid will. My intent is guiding me and the fact that I’m able to tie those factors together makes me a desirable person to have around, both on a personal and professional level. I’m quite happy and proud to be labeled a workaholic, but on second thought, I’d probably want to come up with a better name for it… How about fisher of awesome fish?

Some people work themselves to death. Some people do whatever they can to not lift a finger their whole lives. It’s a choice you can make. If you grow into an adult, the least you can do is make a choice and live with it. If you can find better things to do in life than work because you see something more, than by all means, collect unemployment and do your thang. If you’re willing to kill yourself by working 100 hours a week for a corporation that could very well not care if you exist, go for it! Me, I’ll work hard for a bit and hopefully have the presence of mind to take my chips and leave my cards at the table when the time is right.