It’s Only Rock and Roll But I Like It

Sysiphus was an ancient Greek king who for his crimes against the gods was banished to Tartarus to endlessly roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down again, throughout eternity.

On every Monday morning, we know how the old king must have felt. There at least are no dark shadows and moaning shades in our brightly lit offices, and no three-headed hound to prevent our departure at the close of the day, not counting the noisy sales group in the conference room, and that guy from accounting with the annoying laugh.

But our work is never-ending. We create a report or build a database, or process forms or handle the needs of the public, and when one day ends, the next will await us with more of the same. Unceasing drudgery.

But is it really? Oh, it can be tiresome, it can be the same old thing every day. And if we bring none of our own joy to it, it can be cheerless. But it pays our bills. It feeds us, and when the day is done, we can take to our home and hearth a sense that, whether or not it was the most enjoyable way to spend our day or the most glamorous of vocations, it has given us a sense of purpose, and some sense of accomplishment. These are not trivial things.

Our work does not define us; we define our work, or at least we should. So let Mondays be a little less dreary, and let us welcome each new day’s chance to do our work just a little bit better. If we do it well, then we have placed our own stamp upon it, and we can take some comfort in the knowledge that the world perhaps was made a little better by our unsung exertions.

But then again…it is Monday….