Blog Post: Leggo My Ego

During times of widespread economic hardship (we’re still not calling it a recession) and high unemployment most of us begin shedding some of our more self-indulgent habits. Going out to eat, vacations, golfing, dating…. All begin to take a back seat to our more immediate and pressing obligations; food, shelter and other modern day necessities. It’s Maslow’s hierarchy in action, a Darwinian approach to consumption.

As humbling as this increased distinction between want and need can be, it seems one of the last luxuries we shed is our most self indulgent of all; the ego. That’s right our conceptualization of who we are and what we’re entitled to, our desire to satisfy this may rank just before food and shelter. As our economy has continued to struggle over an increasing period of time the number of us unaffected by the current crunch has almost vanished.

All of us probably have friends, family, or are ourselves out of work. In this situation it becomes all the more crucial we make the best of what’s available, rather than steadfastly wait for what we want. It can be hard taking a job that we feel is a step back. With the money, prestige and personal reward reduced, our ego starves to the point of malnutrition. Because of this many of us attempt to wait it out. And, while unemployment is humbling it allows us to feel victimized, while taking a job we don’t love can leave us feeling complicit.

So what am I saying… Should we take jobs were not passionate about? Don’t I work for some young program that campaigns the importance of being something about ones work? It’s true passion and love for our work is vitally important in finding a career we love. But, there is another message in our idealistic moniker and that my friend is the pursuit. Part of finding a career that can feed our soles is engaging in the pursuit, which is not always easy. It can be characterized by struggle, confusion and uncertainty. But, one thing a pursuit will never be characterized by is standstill. When we cease our struggle to move forward we begin to fall behind. At while it may seem like the larger step back is taking that job with less money and a lower title, we’re still learning, earning and building a skill set.

There is no question that our country is in a period of economic struggle and it may get worse before it gets better. But, when it rebounds; and it will. It won’t be on the lofty dreams of expectation and ego, but on the strong backs and sound minds of our country's workforce.