Thursday, October 21, 2004

Pause

Jory's Pause blog seems to be picking up steam. I've gotta keep a couple of these gems:

The Bright Side of Status Anxiety
"This raises the question, is someone who is 'downsizing'--giving up that big-title job and paycheck for a simpler life, not desirous of status? I argue no; they are swimming against the more ubiquitous notion of what we've deemed as status symbols, but not of status itself. If we lived in this world with no respect--from others, but mainly from ourselves--we couldn't function, or we couldn't function to our potential."

The Soloist
"But Leanne has known both worlds: she’s followed her bliss and she’s feasted on the artificial freedom a regular paycheck provides. Eventually, the body rejects this unnatural nourishment; it screams for something else. Still,in the absence of the nourishment we’re seeking as soloists, we can get mighty hungry. Hell, anyone who’s traveling a lonely road and starving would likely stop at the first place she could eat, even if it was McDonald’s."

3 comments:

Rob said...

Jeremy
You are already getting recognized as an important source in the new learning field. Is this not the best type of recognition. Your talent, perception and courage are building a name that can never be replicated in a formal workplace that is largely political

Jeremy said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jeremy said...

Thanks for the kind words, Rob. My first thought was "hey, this post isn't about me!" But I guess we do tend to seek out stuff that interests us in the moment.

I think that Jory is exploring the gap between authentic recognition for your own pursuits (that doesn't tend to be monetary, at least at first) and the comfort and stability of a job that may not be particularly fulfilling. Your personal example of going solo has been inspirational to me, and others have also made the leap successfully...but I don't think I've heard much about the dark side, the difficulties involved. There's just this vague fear of being respected but having no contracts lined up.