Finding joy in work

Half of our life is spent in studying and working - in fact most of our waking hours are scheduled around our means to make a living. For some the word Work conjures up the image of something that pays our bills and maybe if we are  lucky our vacation. For others their careers/jobs are  more than just one aspect of their life - it consumes them to define who they are. Without their "title", without their job they are lost - their whole identity is based on what they do for a living.
Our childhood, our schooling, our learning in youth is all meant to train us to make a comfortable living and contribute to the society we live in, in our own small ways. We grow up to be adults with dreams, dreams of achieving, dreams of financial freedom and maybe achieving excellence in our field of interest.
Yet most of us end up stuck in jobs and careers that become a necessity, prisoners of either our own need to gratify our egos, or chained up by our fear of making inadequate living. When we look at nature, every living creature works for survival - but the difference between them and us is that they work for food, for building , save for shelter if needed without any resentment, without any greed. A bird collects enough seeds to survive, builds one nest to live in, that is it, unlike us humans who  are greedy to the core. Work is as natural to them as play, as natural as sleep.

Understanding the reason as to why we need to work - money, creative satisfaction, just adding meaning to your life, status or just because you were taught to believe that without achieving a certain title your identity would be incomplete, helps in making the right career choices. Money is the byproduct of work for some, for others that is the only reason to work. Whatever be the reason for your work, keep it in perspective, and you won't resent it. Spending half of your waking life in resentment will only lead to an embittered you. We all cannot find jobs that we love, yet we all can love what we do, if not for any other reason than the fact that it pays your bills. And if paying the bills is not even a criteria, take a chance, for whether we like it or not,a huge chunk of our life is spent in not just our jobs but also the people with work with.jobs and the people we work with .Keeping the right perspective in your life - the reasons makes it easier for us to make decisions.
We are more inclined to take decisions that are add meaning to our life, when we are not imprisoned by our fears. In the end we do what we have to do, but doing it with joy in our heart, will make half of our  life more meaningful.