your money or your life?

which would you rather have?

no, seriously.

it seems the case with our jobs nowadays.

after talking to some people recently, i've gained a bit more understanding into how this works. i think. at least with me gaining a new perspective on the situation. or the buzz word to use... "paradigm".

i don't think i can get too philosophical anyway but here's my rough take: the higher salary you get, the more time you have to spend on your job. i'm sure it's an open secret by now. just that not everyone seems to want to admit it. if you can take (and want) the high stress levels, certain stress-related ailments, pressure, lack of a normal social life and all those other "perks" in order to get a really fantastic pay, by all means go ahead if you are that capable. in army they call this the "risk" allowance. you get paid more, and you get to buy more fancy stuff. in exchange, they'll get take your life and soul, and before you know it, you'll be a 40-year-old single/divorced senior management driving an expensive car... yet feeling a sort of emptiness in you whenever you dine.

i'm not sure how this will work out for me, but for now, i'm with the rest of you. we're the normal medium tier employees just doing our job. sure, we'll get performance reviews in some way or another, but it is an established fact that if you follow the money, you'll get more of it. along with the pressure with handling it so upclose. some people relish in this i'll bet. i'm just not sure if i can handle it if the time ever comes for me to take up this challenge...

okay i know i'm rambling on and on and you have no idea what i'm talking about half of the time. no matter. it's all summed up in the title.

i choose life. for now...