98 hour work week keeping life on track

[CosmicWonder]

Hello all,

Anyone else has a hard time moving through life? I dont have a job, have had vacation from school. I calculated how much time I spend during a day working my way forwards. The actual number per week lies somewhat lower than the title, but it is close.

I dont think it is normal that life requires me to spend over 80 hours a week to just get through it. Yet, if I dont, I fail.

How is this for you?

Kind regards,

CW

[Podshell]

Used to do abou 80hrs a week in engineering generating profit for the company and paying mortgage to the banks,waste of time the c6pany folded and the bank got the house-When I looked into todays hunter gatherer tribes ,they spend about 14hrs a week enjoying themselves hunting and gathering(never checked out statistics on primates)progress eh!

[CosmicWonder]

Yeah right!

I am spending all that time on calculating my path, constant adapting and evolving. Its not even a real job.... But the stress already is huge.

Kind regards,

CW

[Starman]

For me, the key is making decisions intuitively in a timely manner. I don’t believe in copying what other people have done or are doing because each of us have a path though life which is specifically unique to us. So here is my rambling hardship story, a personal journey where I had no idea where it was going.

I can not do today what I did in past decades because these are different times, social and societal attitudes are different, including the flow of employment opportunities, etc. When I began to let go of making sense out of it all I was able to clearer see the opportunities that were available to me.

I used to work full time for decades and also go to school full time while working. Mainly I worked the night shift, then went to college during the morning hours, and slept in the late afternoon only to repeat the process again when I awakened from sleep. There were many times along the way where I almost lost my life.

I lost my eyesight serving with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, was totally blind for about 5-years with absolutely no help from my family of origin. I started college when I was blind, recording lectures, learning brail, and having my textbooks recorded by an organization. During those early days in college I earned money as a work-study student even though I was blind.

Yes, I built a great career but had little to no time for personal relationships. I felt it was necessary to live this way to keep my life on track, pay bills and provide a more desirable living for myself. My wife passed from breast cancer and I became a single parent while working full time. I am so glad all of this is behind me. After more then a dozen eye surgeries I got my eyesight back.

I never thought I would ever be free of the grueling schedule which had for many years, but today I am retired. I used to have a lot of ambition. I was a high school drop out who became a college professor, went from a G.E.D. program to a PhD program, working full time all the while. I pushed myself and many times felt suicidal. Fortunately my son turned out very well.

I got tired of the rat race many times but had to hang in there to survive. Thank God, it all paid off. Today I am happily retired, enjoying having no schedule at all, not having to work. I thought this day would never come but after a long haul it did arrive. It was very important for me along the way to take care of my inner life and not go insane. Quiet meditation helped a great deal. You do what you have to do to stay above water and not drown, as time goes by you may even learn easier swimming techniques. Life is the great teacher.

[iamthat]

Much of our physical existence is simply maintenance, doing whatever is required to sustain the physical body. Part of that maintenance involves earning sufficient income to pay the bills and fulfil whatever family responsibilities we might have, perhaps with a bit left over to enjoy ourselves and pursue our interests.

I have been very fortunate in this regard. I worked full time (40 hour weeks) for about 16 years and part time (12 hour weeks) for another 12 years, with gaps in between working. And I retired some years ago in my mid-50s. When I worked I was always conscientious and did my best. But I was never particularly ambitious and my material desires have always been simple.

Why is material life relatively easy for some and such a struggle for others? We could say it is karma or the life-lessons we have chosen to experience in this incarnation. I have certainly had my challenges in other areas of my life, but perhaps material struggles were not something I needed to go through.

And for many years I have been giving away at least 10% of my income. Ever since I began this practice money has never been an issue for me.

So every day I express gratitude to the Divine for my many blessings.

Peace

[BigJohn]

I once worked at a job in which I was expected to work a minimum of 100 hours per week. The hardest part of that job was we got paid once a month!