24 January 2021
By Eleni Green
Questions about what work means
How many times a day do you use the word work?
How many times a week do you hear the word work?
How do you use it?
To mean purpose, labour, activity, achievement?
In opposition to laziness, rest, fun, failure?
Hard work, work-life balance, the works, works for me, work it?
How do you respond?
You want a Maserati?
You better work,
bitch?
Because of the way we live in 2022 UK, does work mean something that can supply financial benefit?
Does this form the majority of its usage?
Does work mean sacrificing things you enjoy?
Does work only count if it feels like a punishment?
‘’(Work is) doing something your hate in a place you hate with people you grow to hate for the majority of your day for the majority of your life.’’
― Urban dictionary
Is work physically measurable?
Is work universal?
Does work have a colour?
Does work require things to appear changed?
Is energy always required for work to be done?
‘’Work is the energy transferred to or from an object via the application of force along a displacement.’’
― Isaac Newton and/or Robert Hooke and/or lots of other people
Is work how we meet and interact with our environment?
Make an impact or take care of our surroundings?
Is work what we were born to do?
What gives you satisfaction?
What is your work?
“No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
Is work part of a complementary balance with rest?
Or does work operate as part of a hierarchy?
Is activity without vision in itself valuable?
Does your work help you to rest?
Does your work energise you to work more?
“Work without love is slavery.”
― Mother Theresa
Are you ever confused by this multiplicity of meanings?
Which work do you like?