Money, Time or Purpose - The Raw Post about Freedom

This is a post about freedom. 

Yeah, cool and awesome word, and I have yet to meet a person who doesn’t crave for freedom (yup, winners and losers have the same goals).

The point of this post is to help smart and capable people to live, instead of earn. 

It’s also a note to self, telling my story: how I used to be fearless, and then I conformed to the stupid society, just like you who are reading this (yes, I assume).

This starts as just another self-help book, or an Instagram post of a wannabe mindset coach

(who is all about spirituality, but still, for some reason, their goal is to earn 100k a year). 

But hear me out. 

So the thing that bugs me in this world and society is that people who have dreams and visions and are smart and capable, spend their lives working day in day out for a job they really don’t give a sh*t about.

I know, starting with a black and white statement, but this is so true.

I know it, because I went for this scam for a while as well, and I am still dealing with the aftermath of learning out of the 9 to 5 and security of knowing how much I earn monthly, and getting a nice ego boost by having a cool work title. 

Let me start from the beginning to untangle a bit what I mean.

Fast forward, life went on, I moved abroad and back to Finland, started Master’s studies, and then moved to Malta, because I had a desire to learn digital marketing.

I was studying tourism in University in Lapland, whose economy heavily relies on, and benefits from tourism, yet we did not have a single course about marketing in the study curriculum.

So I felt like I have to find a way to learn these essential skills.

So, I followed my passion and got a job as a copywriter in Malta, with the idea of working there for the summer and then returning to my studies.

It was an awesome place to learn about digital marketing, content creation and SEO.

I worked from the desire to learn, and that’s why I applied internally for SEO Executive position. I got the position, and was in a very lucky situation in a sense that I got to learn all the SEO skills at the job: so they paid AND taught me.

At some point, though, the job got too fast-paced for me, and I know I also asked a lot of myself.

Somehow the 9-5 office job Monday-Friday did not fit for me anymore.

I mean just a year ago I was still working basically as a full-time monkey, climbing in forest all day in an adventure climbing park.

I felt that constant sitting and screens are not made for me, so I quit my job.

Cold turkey, no long-term thinking, no future plan (other than at some point returning to Finland to finish my Master’s in Uni).

I am lucky to have gotten a job pretty quickly, as they were looking for a Finnish speaking SEO Specialist in one company.

At least I did not conform to this fear everyone nowadays has: “I will not get a new job”, or this paradigm of believing that work situation is really bad, so you should really hold on to the position that you have, no matter if you like it or not.

Anyway, I started working in a big company, and actually, the workplace and the team I worked with were absolutely great.

I mean, yes, the setup of the job, meaning 9-5 office, still did not quite suit me, but the people and atmosphere were awesome. 

And it also paid more than any other job I had before (33k€/year if I remember correctly). 

So I’m not going to lie, earning a stable, nice income while not having many expenses felt great. 

I got used to it. 

Fast forward to right now, I am an entrepreneur and on paper, free. 

Just a quick side note: When I quit my job, I already had some more-or-less stable affiliate income from my wellness & travel websites, so I did not step into a complete “omg how are you going to make money and survive” scenario.

But even this did not give me peace. 

I had to quit, because I wanted to be free again and spend my days with something meaningful. 

But for staying too long in this belief system that I need a full-time job all year round to earn enough to live, I could not relax and let go of money anxiety. 

I felt like the 9-to-5 mentality had tattooed itself in my subconscious. 

My ego would still feel more important to say that I’m a Product Owner or SEO Manager in a tech company, rather than saying,

“I am exploring my purpose, which is something within wellness, travel and digital marketing. I don’t know yet what I do, but I am giving myself time to explore.”

I felt judged. Although it was me who was judging myself and having this oh-so-human thought pattern, thinking about what others think about me.

I wanted to sort this out quickly.

To become successful.

To say I made 100k€ from my online yoga courses. 

To say I am {insert a title that resonates fully with my soul, while sounding also important and smart}. 

But I felt lost and insecure, and people asking from the get-go of founding a new business “well, how is it going, are you having clients and earning well”.

For some reason, I did not realise to take any pride of the semi-passive income sources I had built for myself with SEO and blogging, but I answered insecurely mumbling something, something that it takes time. 

The point of this post is not to keep on seeking the absolutely perfect job that does not feel like work. 

It’s about finding the frog that feels meaningful to eat. 

I just can’t wake up every weekday until I’m having grey hair feeling like I’m working for something that does not matter to me.

Life is simply too short for that, to pour your heart and soul on some money-making machine that you don’t believe adds anything valuable in this world. 

Okay, I think I got this point clear. So now you and I are like, okay, cool, what then?

Am I supposed to figure some bigger-than-life next from god kind of higher purpose on this earth instead of 40 hours a 40-hour-a-week existence?

No. 

I mean cool if I do, but I don’t think that’s realistic for everyone in this life.

For me the point is more about having that spark in my eyes in the morning that I will work on something that matters to me. 

Maybe you know this story about three men working under the hot sun, laying bricks.

They were asked what are they doing. 

The first one said:“I’m laying bricks.”

The second man said, “I’m building a wall.”

The third man smiled and said, “I’m building the most beautiful cathedral in the world.”

These guys were builders, setting bricks for a cathedral. The other one says he is putting tiles all day, and the other one says he is building the prettiest cathedral in the world.

They were all doing the same work, but their perspectives were completely different:

• One saw a task

• One saw a job

• One saw a purpose
  
  

And this is what I mean. I hope you we all find our cathedral, even if we know it’s not going to be ready during your lifetime. 

Because if we choose something else, we are suppressing the spark in our eyes and the joy in our doing.

Does it make laying the bricks every day fun and chill? No. 

But meaning is so much more important than money, power and title. 

I know so many people who could easily do already all of their dreams they are dreaming about. 

But they keep on telling themselves, one day, few years from now, later.

Kind of bold of us to assume that we are given some kind of later if we are not using even this time right now for something soulful. 

Keep on telling yourself every day that you don’t deserve this thing yet. 

For sure, after having repeated this tape in your head for five years you will have grown the confidence and balls to do it. 

Nope, you have gone so deep into suppressing your soul that you don’t even want any of those dreams anymore. 

You conform fully. 

So yes, the goal that you have 5 years from now, you can do already today.

But it does require balls.

And you won’t grow a pair by waiting for later.

(Yeah sorry I use such a traditional phrase of “needing balls”, maybe “needing a vagina” would be better?)

You think you need this secure income to be happy. 

You think you need to know that you have a job. 

But it is scientifically proven that people who find purpose on their existence live longer and can deal better with hardships. 

You don’t need everything optimized first in your Maslow’s hierarchy before self-actualisation. 

I mean, all these fears are ideal for our Western system; keep people in fear to stick with their jobs and roles. 

But maybe I am wrong. 

Maybe that is also good for many people?

To do a mediocre job that pays alright but means nothing for them, brings a fulfilling enough life?

PS. I still love SEO, just not as a 9-5 with unrealistic expectations and without breaks ;)