LegendaryLife Blog

Was building this stack of wood work or part of life?

Interesting thought, do we work to live or live to work? I guess it depends on your definition of both life and work.

What is work?

Work is simply the process or undertaking to complete a task, whether it ever happens though is irrelevant. You may work for years and accomplish very little or work very little and accomplish a lot! Work can be further defined as either something you enjoy or don’t. For instance, I don’t know many people who would enjoy working in the Arctic looking at ice melt but I do know many people who would love to earn a living while relaxing on the beach, working.

What is life?

Life can be defined biologically, theoretically or even spiritually… it all depends on your perception of life actually is. Is a rock alive? No. Is this planet alive? No…. or are they? Again, perception and your background can mediate a debate on whether a No is a Yes or otherwise. For me, life is simply the act of existing within a defined boundary, the most notable being mortality. If you die, then you have a life, if you are “immortal”, then you are not alive. Vampires for instance are not alive as they don’t die of natural causes
Work to live?

Whether we want to admit it or not, our entire life, from the moment we are born till the last few seconds we breath air on this Earth, we are working in one way or another. From digesting food within our intestines to processing information reaching our brain, we simply are unable to live without working in one way or another.

Live to work?

Now, living to work, taken loosely, can define a workaholic as much as it can define a true passion within a being. For instance, microbes have a true passion with an entire life dedicated towards multiplying and processing the raw materials that are around them. Humans on the other hand, like to take a break from “work” and get back to the basics of living life. Either way, living to work has a very different meaning than working to live.

So which is it?

Depends on your perception, background and ambition, some people will say that working to live is a horrible experience while others saying living to work is equally abominable. As for me, I enjoy both living to work and working to live, I think what the true question to be is what is the balance of the two that you try to maintain?

What is your life to work balance?

Sometimes asking the wrong question leads to a proper one, in this case, you have a scale instead of a yes or no answer. If you work too hard than you live, you will have problems with the success you may achieve while the other way around, things get pretty predictable over time.

The Bottom Line

Grey scales often exist in between black and white issues.