Friday, September 21, 2007

That Forbidden Fruit...

Huhh ...huh..uuh..huhh..uh..huh!

Yep, that’s me panting. No not physically, just mentally. Panting! My brain is panting, my mind is panting, and my own conscience is panting. Life has become a constant marathon, with no time to live!

I remember my life’s motto from a long time ago to just one year back. Live to Eat! (I assure you I’m slim in figure and do NOT resemble a pig). Food! That’s all that mattered back then. Somehow I stumbled upon this sect of people who “worked” for a living, who claimed they “Work to Live”. So I thought I’ll try this cool thing called work, and found out that they were SO mistaken. You don’t work to live, you live to work!

Is it just me and the cubicles around me? Or is this the global trend?

Did I choose the wrong class of work? Or are all classes of work, addictive and time consuming as mine?

Am I just a weak athlete, or is this race really hard to run?

I remember reading about an underwater archaeologist who said, “Diving, is the greatest joy of my life, and now I get paid to do it”. How great is that? This was my idea of work. But no! Maybe I still haven’t found a way to get paid for the greatest joy of my life (eating, with dancing in second place - proof, of my un-piggish figure). I know you don’t get paid to eat, unless you’re the taster to the king, where again, you may jolly well end up being poisoned to death. As for becoming a professional dancer, well, after my first dance competition I learnt that training with someone else can be even more stressful than my live to work routine.

It’s amazing that…

…the last time I went on a 3 hour walk on the beach at 5am was before I started working.

…the last time I sat under a tree and had an endless nonchalant chat with a friend was before I started working.

…the last time I danced 3 hours straight to Sun-FM music (including commercials) was before I started working.

…the last time I learnt to play a song I liked on my guitar (know a few chords, that’s it) was before I started working.

Have you noticed that we even plan our recreation and relaxation now? We plan our time with family and friends, so that we can somehow fit everything in to our live to work.

We now pay for head massages to relieve stress, when all we need is sufficient sleep.

We make appointments for foot care, when all we need is a nice sand scrub and a sea water splash by the beach.

We go to the gym to work out or for aerobics lessons to keep fit, when all we need is to do our own work at home and maybe play some cricket on the road, like we used to.

But we Live to Work, so forget about sleep, beach and cricket, and get professional help!

I some how trace this all back to Adam and Eve. Now if this hungry couple had not eaten that forbidden fruit, we would all still be in the Garden of Eden, eating all the yummy fruits without a care in the world. And Live to Eat, we literally would!

The Holy Bible. Genesis. Chapter 3.

12 comments:

Ibba said...

Whoooooooooo.. quite a long write eh.... mann that sounds hectic and sad... but who is this writing SESHI!!!! and this person wudnt be in this position today if not for all the sacrifices...but yes looking back seems like u left some stuff behind to get there but HELL YEAH u are way above the rest... so i guess its a balancing act and RESPECT!!!! dont know much of ur caliber..


so think the beach will still be there and the roads will still be open for cricket and the trees will still be vacant for a chat...
Not to worry gurl!!!!


but after reading all that.. u SHUD take a BREAK.. as samanthi also said... GO TAKE A 5 DAY BREAK DO NOTHING DONT EVEN THINK... JUS SIT AND LOOK RETARTED..(P.S the latter part was my invention) as for me... i dont have to LOOK retarted but hell yeh i aint stressed out... oops... maaluwa nahinne kata handai.. rough seas ahead for me too..

so keep me posted when u take a walk on the beach (hell no not at bloody 5 am.. give sleep its due respect) and no i wudnt recommend chats under trees after what happned to NEWTON.. who knows what type of tree u have in mind and yeah road cricket sounds good.. so count me in for ur to-do list..

take care buddy....
LIVE TO EAT!!!! after all im in shape....

Sanesh Fernando said...

Well, looks like somebody has got an interest in living in a jungle.

No need to blame it on Adam and Eve, we could start collecting a fund to fly and drop you in the middle of the Amazon Rain Forest.

Just joking!
Expect more comments on this post very soon!

Sanesh Fernando said...

Well, giving some thought to what you say, I feel there is a simple answer.

The answer to all this is the freedom of choice.

It could be visualized as you would ride your bike on several adjoining hills (check the visualization).

After climbing Hill "A", you enjoy a little bit of breeze hitting you and bit of a great view down the hill. Then You could choose to ride on the straight road or choose to climb the next Hill "B". So like wise the more you go higher the more that you enjoy of the Breeze and the breath taking view of down the hill.

The most difficult part is climbing the Hill. If one can never decide from which hill you would stop climbing, in your entire life you will not be able to enjoy.

So decide where and what you want to become. Achieve it and then just switch to cruising.

Seshika Fernando said...

Wow! you never stop making me proud of you bro.
I agree. But sometimes you start climbing a hill and then wonder whether you're climbing the wrong hill.

kermit said...

and here i thought you were an exemplar of a non-workaholic. but i guess compared to some of our mutual colleagues, you ARE (which doesn't say much for the colleagues, unfortunately)

to me it's just a trade-off between success and relaxation. you just have to figure out how much of each you want...

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Sesh,Im reading dis, n Im thinkin if u wer a man, then Ill marry u(I think we ve sed dat be4..?)
Each point uve sed I couldnt hav sed it bettr. To anyone who thinks a walk on the beach at 5am is rough, one of dese days go ahead n actually do it, get up even tho its tough..its just fantastic, oh n the water is warm:) So if u ve got a relativaly warm morning n a calm sea - wow dats life..!(Im thinkin wat d hell am I doin here- I miss d sea so much, especially wen i see the excuse these guys hav2 offer - I mean the so-called sea n beach)

So welcome to the world of work Sesh. Dis is exactly (I mean to the dot) wat I ws doing at d bank, while u wer toilin away at ur exams. N since Ive come here, u kno Im doin both togthr, n yes people here actually apply to relax at the beg of d year, put it up against the desk, look at it every morning, so theyre reminded of it.(Dis is called applyin for annual leave over there)

You kno wen I saw d Live to eat part - lol - it was such a coincidence becoz I had just been tellin Nalin abt it(my new freind), n how u used to try to condition my brain to it. Unfortunatly I havnt changed, even tho I try to make food d priority much mo dese days.

So abt wat uve sed, people say its a choice, bt I mean its not; u study, so u want to work, u want to achieve, u want to earn money; so u fall into d trend. But u kno wat, my freind Adam(hes polish)got fired from Starbucks(he was late for work n some other stuff); so Im thiknin he must b so worried bcoz dats d only job he does;so I call him up n hes just absolutely so cool minded, hes just fine. So he asks how am I, n I say I think Im alright; n den he goes -u think o u know?? N Im thinkin wait a minute!!!
So it can be done, u just hav to stop running, n like the simple things- Adam walks around London by himself with his iPod on, n hes having the best time of his life, watching everything/one else.

Also aiya!! how did u think up Achieve it n cruise??? I say cool things like dat dont I? Please let me say cool things lik dat!:) Im goin to put dat bit in my Facebook- u still hav d copyrights dont worry..

And Seshi dont take 7 more months!!?
I hope I start cruising soon becuase I dont think I will:(

Seshika Fernando said...

yes hasitha, I AM the exemplar of a non-workoholic, thats why this is extremely tough for me!

Sandy, we probably will never meet that man who thinks this way, so tough!
So I'm taking a break, going to dambulla with Nishadi, gonna watch the Eng vs SL matches, and cruise a bit.
And yes, aiya will always be himself, and say cool things like that on and off.

nishidafishi said...

Man... That's one heck of a blog Sesh! :)... Bravo!!! Took me a while to get my act together to be able to comment on it... :)

Well well... all i have to tell u is, u r not alone in this journey my friend... All of us r either 1 step behind or ahead or side by side with u... That's the silver lining... It's true u wanna just drop dead at times when u think about ur pile of work and all the tension that comes along with it... But that's what friends r there for... To call up at 3 in the morning on a Sunday night and complain as much as u want about how much u hate going to work Monday morning... It's not that u r a weak sport dude... It's just this rat race today no matter in which track u r running on, will threanten to soak every single drop of energy outta u... And in a race like this, believe me, u r doing a much better job than most ppl do. Dont let anyone tell u anything else...

Surround urself with friends (like me ;)... Tell ur parents how much u love them even in the few minutes u might get to spend with them during the day... And thank ur lucky stars for we have work for our hands, food for our stomachs and a roof over our heads... :)

And if it still doesnt work... Take a break... Go somewhere and chill out man... like I dont know... Maybe a weekend away with a celebrity to go to Dambulla and watch the England match and scream ur head off... But oh ohhh... wait a minute... U already have that!!!... U r going for the most fun weekend any human being has ever gone on to Dambulla with ME!!! We are gonna RRRRRRRRRRRRROCK Rangiri Dambulla machang!!! Now come back after THAT and tell me whether u r still stressed... :)

nuuuwan said...

Interesting blog…and makes a lot of sense too.

A couple of weeks ago I saw this documentary on the world’s weirdest foods. The host (a pleasant bald, chubby guy) gets to go anywhere and everywhere, sampling some of the scariest things you could imagine (and which I will refrain from mentioning…). The guy does, in more than one way, resemble a pig – but I doubt that this bothers him – he basically does what he loves doing and loves doing it – which is probably the most important thing about an occupation – loving doing it.

So often, we are split between what we want to do and what our environment expects us to do. We all face this dilemma – sometimes we confuse the two - some of us side more one way, others the other – sometimes secretly, sometimes unconsciously. What really matters is whether you’re happy or not. If too many days go by ending on a blue note, then, maybe, a change in tune is called for. Not just too many days – but hours, minutes, seconds and moments…these are too valuable to be wasted on things that you really aren’t interested in doing.

It’s your life!!! At the end of the day, you can do whatever you want to do…Even if it means going around the world eating the weirdest things you can get your hands on – And, you might even get paid for it!!!

And now that I've finished writing this comment, I am going to go and eat!!!

CHC said...

After hearing all the comments,
Its a choice for you ...

Your ..Yesterday is gone
Your ..Today is Continuing
Your ..Tomorrow is waiting

So .. Make the change you want ..
As i know (Sesika) do it better than
any one else ..

Anonymous said...

If u can not, who else can ....