What is your world made of?
A question inspired by Orwell
It was the typical life of a plongeur, and it did not seem a bad life at the time. I had no sensation of poverty, for even after paying my rent and setting aside enough for tobacco and journeys and my food on Sundays, I still had four francs a day for drinks, and four francs was wealth. There was — it is hard to express it — a sort of heavy contentment, the contentment a well-fed beast might feel, in a life which had become so simple. For nothing could be simpler than the life of a plongeur. He lives in a rhythm between work and sleep, without time to think, hardly conscious of the exterior world; his Paris has shrunk to the hotel, the Metro, a few bistros and his bed.
-Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell
[plongeur: a person employed to wash dishes and carry out other menial tasks in a restaurant or hotel]
When I read this paragraph, I was struck by how relatable it is. Almost instantly, this question popped up in my mind: what is my world made of?
Has my field of consciousness shrunken to my work desk, living room, and kitchen? Or is it filled with the recommendations from various social media homepage? Is it made up of noise? Is it full of trash? What do I need to throw out? What do I need to put in? Is my current life what I have envisioned in January?
The short answer is no. No, it is not what I’ve envisioned — that’s for sure.
Objectively speaking, it’s not bad, but it’s no good either. To use a swimming analogy, I feel like I’ve been treading water at the same spot instead of propelling forward, and I have gotten used to this state. It was a good wake up call for me to scrutinize the life that I have been living rather comfortably and mindlessly so far.
If you’re reading this, here’s the very same question to you:
What is your world made of?
Wow! This hits hard, ever since I started my job, I've been feeling like our world is structured in a way that it forces you to limit yourself to your job and then maybe a few things here and there in the little time you have for spare, so that you still feel like you have some time for yourself. But mostly it's about your job. That's why I've started reading more aggressively because I didn't want to forget that there's a world outside my job, in fact most of the world is outside my job.