What am I to do ?

Its something we were warned of. Not once, but many times. Over and over again. To the point we started thinking 'Not this again! Come one already! We've heard this a thousand times' but we still fall prey to it. Its surprising and ironical. I still remember 
"No we won't become corporate slaves, we're not that stupid! Yes we will live our lives to the full! No we won't sacrifice family and friendship for work, its really not a difficult choice!" 
But alas, 3 years since the day I left B-school, all of it has come true! And not just for me, also for most of my close friends.


But everybody works 10-11 hrs in my office. Its not much of a choice, its expected. The market is so bad I can't afford to lose my job. And if I don't stay there for that long, my boss is going to think I'm not interested in my work. I don't want to fall behind others. What am I to do?


People I used to spend the entire day with, breakfast, lunch, dinner, classes, outings. Who I shared everything with. The very idea of giving whom less importance than 'Work' seemed laughable, and now it is all true! Some I speak to once in weeks, meet once in months, some I speak to on Birthdays, New Year, Diwali, and meet 2-3 times a year, some I don't speak to at all. But I have targets to achieve, presentations to make, reports to submit, meetings to attend, there just isn't time. I can't leave that all. I wish everyone a Happy Birthday on Facebook. I do send the occasional broadcast message on festivals and important days.What am I to do?


So what I spend 10 hours at work, 2 hours getting ready for and going to work, 2 hours coming back and finishing presentations/reports/calls and 6 hours sleeping. Doesn't mean I don't have a life. I catch up on Facebook and then I do get weekends. OK so that guitar is getting dusted, and that gym membership probably is going to waste, and yes the last time I went out was probably a month ago, but I need to relax on weekends, sleep well and watch the movies I downloaded all week long. What am I to do?


via nofearofchic.tumblr.com
Can't say I wasn't warned about this. The funny thing is, all of us feel 'Hey, this is how it is, What am I to do?' Always a question. Never 'This is what I am going to do'. There's a saying I always firmly believed in
'Your work is a big and important part of your life. But that's just what it is 'a Part', not your whole life'.
I think i'll have to revisit that thought and make some changes. Maybe I'm called an idiot for it, but hey, maybe that's what I want to be.

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