Ach mein Gott! It's Monday!

Yes folks, it's Monday again. That day that everyone wakes up to and inevitably groans at.
To add to the misery swirling about, today's Monday is drearier than the rest. It's the last Monday after the month (cue people extremely tired after end month celebrations), rain clouds are looming in the sky, it's cold and the mood of the day is miserable. Sigh. Work again, for everyone. Driving through the streets of Nairobi, you can see drivers and passengers alike with identical looks of Monday blues bordering on apathy toward anything and everything. The emotion that accompanies road rage seems not to have set in yet, and may not until later. Manual labourers are hard at work, but with the same look on their face. It's as though Nairobi got bitten by a bug late last night that seems to have afflicted all of us with a get-me-out-of-here mentality.
This is not an extraordinary occurrence though. It happens every Monday morning, and to some degree, everyday. What do I blame it on?

The Rat Race. (For those of you who haven't, I recommend reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. It's a great resource! http://books.google.co.ke/books/about/Rich_Dad_Poor_Dad.html?id=v8NTA2mHL5kC&redir_esc=y)

For those who have never heard of this before, the 'Rat Race' is what we all live through. Go to college, get a 'good' job. Work forever. For what? We work to earn money to afford houses that we spend most of our time away from. We toil for weeks in order to enjoy a meager 21 days of freedom. We work hard so that we can spend quality time with friends and family; yet are to tired or busy to do so when need be. Yes, this is almost a cliched topic. Yes, there are people who have escaped this.

However, until most of us can get out of this, the conversation needs to be had, and had again.
What connects dreary Mondays to the Rat Race? The simple fact that if all of us loved our jobs, despite traffic, we would be happy to get there.
Goodness, can we just pause for a moment and imagine a world in which society was actually happy at work?

We've been born into a culture that encourages to play it safe. Finding a tried-and-tested job, even if it's not exactly what suits us, is what we do. People have different skills and talents that may sometimes lie outside the traditional job market. However, instead of exploring and pursuing passions, we stick to the status quo. God forbid we actually fall in love with what we do, right? Even those lucky few who are able to do what they want do not fully escape this. Once they start off, many fall prey to the same problems of routine and safety, an inability to stretch outside our world.

This has been something I've been thinking about a lot, of course. As a young professional a year away from graduation, this is the time to figure out 'what I want to do with my life' (or so I've been told). I'm sorely tempted to take everyone's advice, and stick to what we know. What's been done. What's 'safe'.
However, the thought of that is so terrifying that there may be hope for me yet.
Have a great Monday everyone, and try to work your job like it's your dream job!