Which got me to thinking....

This will be the new title for many of my blogs. I tend to over think everything and this will be where I can vent all that pondering.

Work

Most of us do it. Most of us have since we were legally able to in some form. But Why? It started, for me, as a way to make extra money for clothes, shoes, purses, all the important stuff. And I just kept at it. I developed a plan, at an early age, to go to college and choose a career I could work in for most of my adulthood. A career in Motherhood never really crossed my mind. I wanted to be successful (whatever that means), and I thought that meant to work my way up and bring home a nice paycheck to allow my family all the "stuff" we could want. Man, did I watch too many episodes of The Fabulous Life of_____. I did not understand what I would be taking on when starting a family. I never really thought about leaving my kids with someone while I worked. I mean, everyone does it, right? But now, that seems like the most absurd thing to me. The whole idea of working started to become unclear. 

 So, let me get this straight, we spend (roughly) 50 hours a week working to come home and spend 40 hours with our family (some of which spent on getting ready for work). We spend 5 full days working but only 2 full days at home. We work to provide gas, food, and clothes to take/wear to work. Am I the only one who finds this strange and unbalanced. If we work to provide for our family but barely get to see our family, what's the point? Have we lost sight of what is important? I would argue yes. Unfortunately, my only choice right now is to work due to poor financial decisions. I was under the impression working was what you did. Now, I wonder why this is the norm. Why do we all choose to live above our means, supposedly giving "more" to our families, but only forcing us to work and rarely getting the time to use all the "stuff" we are able to buy. I believe time and attention is what my family would benefit most from. We are bombarded with various things convincing us of what we "need", when all we really "need" are basic things barely sprinkled with the extras. This is something we are all in to so deep that it will most likely never change. I hope to instill in my children the importance of family, Yes, work ethic and drive are important, but what do they really mean if you can't turn it off and desire to spend quality time with your family?