How we are taught to measure success is so wrong
I was struck by the above image in this tweet.
This is something I have been hoodwinked by my whole life. I have always measured success by my job title and the associated salary, and with this the material objects that came along for the ride. Health insurance, a company car, the authority and the obligatory suit to symbolise my status.
Certain aspects of the above were advantageous of course, but I think back to the facade that was kept up throughout and the conformity that was required to exist in such a space. I did not realise it at the time, but so much of my corporate existence was not real in any way and I can look back now and wonder why it all felt so completely normal.
I can look back now because I have, for many years, worked in different positions where I can wear what I want and where the lack of corporaticity (new word!) is ever present. It has enabled me to move the priority of what is important to me in different ways and I now realise that the second pie chart above makes a whole lot more sense than the first one.
Lockdown has also taught me this in a much bigger way and I suspect that many others are going through the same thing. Just maybe, the pandemic will have a shiny silver lining after all.