Nine to Five

I had a throwback moment this morning when YouTube started playing All American Rejects’ “Gives You Hell” on my phone. I remembered when I first heard this song, freshman year of college, it demonized a stable 9-5 job and glorified the rebel rock life.

It’s been 10 years since the release of that song and man, how much I have changed. Even up until 6 months ago, I didn’t want to be tied down to a 9-5 job that is meaningless, purposeless, and suffocating. But I’ve had it wrong.

In November, my husband (I got married!!) and I went to Thailand. It was an incredible experience seeing nature like I’ve never seen before. From island hopping to driving into the jungle, it was unforgettable. Traveling always takes my breath away because it reminds me that there’s so much more to life than my first world problems in the U.S. There are so many other people in this world living completely different lives, but we’re all the same. We’re all still just human.

The biggest thing that has changed for me is my perception of work and it’s meaning in life. I think because our past generations have worked their lives away for something that creates no meaning in their lives, we assume that all work is bad. It explains why so many millennials have abandoned their home country for a life of travel. Thanks to social media, a lot of millennials are making a living just on traveling, freelancing, and picking up local gigs. This seemed like an ideal lifestyle to me, and I romanticized it so much in my head. But, actually my trip to Thailand woke me up.

What a privilege it is for a person in a developed country to temporarily tour another nation where most of its people are struggling to make a dollar at the end of a day. We “Westerners” go, spend our money like candy, take a bunch of touristy photos, eat new “exotic” food and then just leave. We complain about the lack of sewage, hygiene, and AC while we’re there and stay in tour groups or resorts so that we don’t have to face the actual brokenness of second-world and third-world countries.

It was a rude awakening for me. The ultra glamorized pictures on Instagram are coated in blood and not mine. It’s coated with the hard working class and poverty stricken countries of the underdeveloped worlds where disease, sex trafficking, slavery, and famine are common.

And then I feel bad for a little while, come back to my comfortable Lincoln Park apartment in Chicago, turn on my furnace, turn on my AC and look back at my pictures because I don’t want to remember the things I didn’t take photos of.

Am I being a little dramatic? Maybe. I’m not saying travel is bad. I think it’s great and it brings our world closer together. The more you learn about other cultures, the less you’ll stereotype them, exoticize them, and the more you’ll appreciate diversity. But I just want us to think twice, think a little deeper when it comes to travel and social media. Don’t believe everything you see. There’s always more to a photo than meets the eye.

A 9-5 isn’t so bad anymore. A 9-5 is a luxury. It’s a privilege. It’s a gift given to us by our nation, for being a citizen of a country where I have rights, welfare, and endless opportunities. A “bad job” we think of is working at McDonald’s, but how horrible is it to work inside a building with AC, with proper plumping, and wearing clean clothes?

I don’t think that having a meaningless job is all of a sudden ideal. But I do think that it changes my perspective on what “meaningless” really means. I’m still a believer of creating work that is rewarding mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. However, I don’t think we need to abandon a 9-5 completely to get there. And I know I’m not the only one.

Millennials have gotten prettyg good at reinventing the full-time-job experience. Health insurance and a retirement plan are great, but so is having actual friends at work, trusting employees to work from home, and an office layout that isn’t stuck in the 1980s. Startups are also changing corporations. They know that millennials care about growth and company culture more than politics. And these corporations are feeling the hit.

It’s fascinating to see how companies like Kraft Heinz and Conagra are rushing to keep up with consumer taste buds. Processed foods are going out of date. These companies are losing money and feeling pressured to acquire smaller companies that are innovative and on trend. They’re even changing their corporate structure and office layouts to keep up with the values and priorities of millennials.

I think it’s possible to bring meaning, worth, and work-life balance into the 9 to 5 job. It might take a little while, but I’m excited to see what “work” will really look like in 10, 20, 30 years.