You’re not a slave to your job. You’re a slave to your own beliefs.
“Corporate Slavery.”
This was a term that became synonymous with my life. It’s a term that almost every working adult is subject to, whether they know it or not.
For me, this term materialized itself in the form of morning commutes, scheduled meetings throughout the course of the day, and a demanding schedule that dictated the majority of my life.
As I spent much of my days confined to the four walls of my cubicle, I couldn’t help but blame all my unhappiness and dissatisfaction on those two little words that I believe perfectly described my life.
Corporate slavery.
I was a slave to the corporate world and I used the term as a way of coping. Whenever it was a struggle to wake up in the morning to get ready to go into the office, whenever I found myself quietly trapped in my cubicle and questioning what else life has to offer, whenever I felt like life was simply passing me by, I would recite those two little words in the back of my mind.
I confided in the term because it seemed to rationalize the routine that I had found myself subject to. It was an excuse for how my life was unraveling. It was my way of convincing myself that it was normal to feel unfulfilled when it came to my career.
The truth is, I was unhappy. And while I was trying to find a reason to justify why I was lacking that certain passion in my work life, I was ultimately failing to admit that I was the problem.
You can’t always control your situation, but you can control how you respond to it.
It took me many years to change the negative belief system I had built. I had spent so much time looking outward for any number of reasons that I could point the blame towards when what I really needed to do was take an inward approach focused on changing my beliefs.
I was blaming my cubicle for everything going on, but in reality, how I felt within those four walls was up to me.
It’s incredibly common that so many people simply go to work without feeling passionate or empowered by the work that they do. And the majority of those people spend 40 or more hours per week reinforcing the same negative narratives — “I hate my job, I’m unhappy with my career, etc.”
This negativity only compounds, leaving you more and more unhappy. And by the time you leave work for the day, you are completely and entirely emotionally drained.
But negativity doesn’t get you anywhere. You and your actions are the exact reason why you are where you are.
If you want change to occur in your life, that change must first happen within. Opportunity doesn’t come to you when you’re wallowing in your own self-pity. It comes when you have an open, opportunistic mindset and truly desire new experiences.
If you’re not happy, find a way to make a change.
Come to terms with the fact that you are responsible for where you are in your life. If you’re not happy, only you are able to make that change. Dwelling on the negative aspects in your life won’t advance you in the direction you want to go.
It’s easy to find any number of reasons why your life is the way it is, but true transformation arises when you decide to start making the choices that will lead you to the life you desire.
You’re not a slave to your job, you’re a slave to your own beliefs. Changing your belief system will set you free.
