Photo by Meddy Garnet

Back To Life, Back To Reality – En Vogue

Today, tomorrow (depending where you’re at in the world) and over the next couple of weeks, many of you will be heading back to work fresh from holidays. Unless perhaps you’re Henry Rollins, then you don’t really take holidays! I remember speaking with Henry the day after Christmas a couple of years ago. He was in his office gleefully working. He told me it was one of his favourite times of the year because he gets the office all to himself and can work uninterrupted… ha, ha, ha. I can definitely identify with that one! And just this morning the ever-lovely Heidi Minx and I were expressing our frustration at businesses still being closed in-turn hindering getting things into motion for world domination this year (ha!). It’s go time…

As you step back into the work place, whether it’s in an office, working retail, collecting garbage, icing decadent cupcakes, waiting tables, whatever it is you do, take the time to notice how you’re feeling about it. Are you bouncing off the walls happy and ready to get stuck into it all? Are you filled with dread and possibly mild (maybe even major) anxiety? Or have you just accepted that work is work and it’s what you do to get by? If you’re feeling either of the latter maybe it’s time to reassess your situation. Your work should give you purpose and a great sense of achievement and fulfilment. It should be something you love to do. We spend so many hours of our lives at work shouldn’t it be something we adore?

A little story…

Once upon a time there was a vibrant full-of-life girl named Bianca. She got herself a job working in an office at a shipping company. It wasn’t a particularly hard job: answering phones, filing, running errands, pushing paper and getting the boss coffee. Her parents were so proud she had a ‘real’ job. Her mother even took a photo of her in a pants-suit (it was a maroon pinstriped number) as she was out the door on the way to her first day at the office. Her mum stuck the photo on the fridge which is where it remains to this day (blah!).

Monday to Friday Bianca dutifully got up at 5 am to catch two buses to get to work. The journey was fun-filled with the tunes of Bad Religion, Ice-T, Suicidal Tendencies, Rancid, Public Enemy, Nofx & Social Distortion to kick-start the day. The artists kept her company as she amused herself by making up stories in her head about fellow commuters to pass the time. The downtime on the commute also gave her time to dream as the lyrics of her musical crushes inspired her to want greater things than what was currently her life. Bianca always knew she was destined for something so much more wonderful.

One night, after a few months in her job and a particularly uneventful, ordinary day, she went home to bed exhausted. The job was a no-brainer. She didn’t get to utilise her skills and talents; she felt she was being wasted. As she drifted off to sleep she dreamt of numbers, big long lines of numbers (think Matrix style). The numbers kept running in her head over and over. They wouldn’t stop! She awoke with a start and had the realisation, if she continued working in her job she’d either a) keep feeling restless, bored and die a slow painful death or b) become accustom to it, accept it, ultimately numbing herself to continue on, lose her spark and die a slow painful death. Because the idea of dying a slow painful death isn’t so appealing she decided to do something about it.

The next morning Bianca walked into work gave her two weeks’ notice and left! That afternoon she telephoned her big sister Julie in tears. She had no idea what to do? As big sisters often do, Julie offered some sound advice that would change Bianca’s life. “You love writing and you love music,” Julie started, “You make your little zines. Why not try and make a living from those things you love? Why not call one of the music magazines you like and try to get some work doing that?” After a little further discussion and with a new hope in her heart Bianca hung up, scrabbled through her piles (many, many piles) of magazines and choose one to call.

After writing down what she was going to say (dork! ha!) It basically went something like this:

Editor: Hello, Rave Magazine.
Bianca: Hi, I wanted to enquire about the possibility of writing for you guys.
Editor: Have you written for anyone before? What type of music do you like?
Bianca: I haven’t really written for anyone, but I make my own zines! I really love punk and hardcore music.
Editor: It just so happens our punk guy has gone overseas for a while, maybe you could fill in for a bit. Do you have any samples of your work?
Bianca: Sure, I can bring my zines in.
Editor: Sounds good! Come by tomorrow.

And the rest they say is history… the editor was impressed with Bianca’s work and enthusiasm. She walked out of the office with her first assignment to review a local punk gig.

Countless gigs, about a million interviews and many rock n roll adventures later she finds herself still writing and so, so much happier than if she stayed at the shipping company. She took a leap of faith and it paid off.

Lessons learned: follow your feelings and engage in work that makes you feel alive, that makes you happy to jump out of bed in the morning and get going. Trust me, it is possible to do something you love for a living. I am huge advocate of working for yourself (more on that in coming posts!). I come from a family of entrepreneurs. The following friends are living proof you can love the life you live and live the life you love:

John Engelhardt is an artist and illustrator. His work has been nominated for awards & he has worked with the likes of Australian hip hop kings, Hilltop Hoods.

Lake from Redstripe Clothing . She started out having a market stall in 2001. Now she has a store as well as an online store and is totally rocking it. She’s a clever, driven lady.

Mark Lobo is the man responsible for the magical photo of me here. His photos are beautiful art. The way he captures the sky in his shots is amazing. Love his cloud work!

We all have to start somewhere. Once upon a time…

Ashanti worked in day care; Jon Bon Jovi made Christmas decorations; Steve Buscemi drove an ice-cream truck; Kurt Cobain was a janitor; John Legend worked at Sears; Madonna served Dunkin’ Donuts; Gene Simmons rescued people as a lifeguard; Elvis Costello got his technology on as a computer programmer; Macy Gray worked at McDonalds; Lil’ Kim worked the counter at Bloomingdales department store and Eminem was a short order cook.

If you could do anything at all for a living and money was no object, what would you do?

Have a rad day beautiful people!
Love,

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Tags: advice, friends, heidi minx, henry rollins, Inspiration, john.e, life, lyrics, mark lobo, work