Tue May 29, 2018 8:41 pm
I disagree with the main premise of the article but agree with most of the subordinate points.
Treating anything like a job (and I'm using profession and job interchangeably here) has a negative connotation to it. Whether it be conscious or sub conscious. This literally is something somebody needs to pay you to do, you're not doing it for free. Take a for instance, I'm sure Bryan loves his profession and learns stuff everyday, but I'm betting he ain't doing shit for free because he enjoys it so much. It's a way to feed his family, to put extra cash in the coffers for little extras like that STG44 (which by the way, when it's ready I will be in line for it). I don't do hobbies to be paid, I do them for fun. The chroming I did for Bryan and you guys was not to make money. Shit, all said and done I pretty much paid you guys to chrome. I did it for the fun of it. I really enjoyed it (and it may come back). But I never treated it like a job. I don't even treat my job like a job. I don't think I've ever been bored at a job. Once I see that setting in I take the initiative to change that. If I'm bored or stagnant, as the referenced article states, and do nothing to change it then I'm really just there for the paycheck. I could get a paycheck anywhere with a lot less responsibilities. Street corner comes to mind (some of you have seen my ass...you know I'd clean up).
I'll take this a step further. I gave up logging all my dives years ago. Please don't call the PADI police on me. But it got to a point where I was diving so much that logging everything became tedious and seemed like work. I don't dive to do more work. I dive for...wait for it... fun. I know my stats, and my wife's stats, well enough after years (nay decades) of diving that I don't need to go back to the log book for data anymore. After that, it got so much more fun. Post dive stories got way better and I wasn't having to make time to write some shit down (more time for beer). Given enough time the stories would get waaaay better. After a year or so that 3 foot fish grows to 5 feet. And given enough time that sucker will be twenty feet. But isn't that part of the experience? The fish that got away stories? Who needs facts written down to dispute that story? Not me.
Here's one of the points I completely agree with: Learn new things. Actually I use that in daily life. If I don't learn something new everyday I'm a little disappointed. If you're bored, it's your own fault. Take the initiative to learn something new. If you're bored at work is it really because you're not being challenged? Or is it because you're too lazy to stir up the status quo and ask your boss for new responsibilities? Is this more of you (using this in the general sense) putting the responsibility of engaging your intellect on somebody else? A lot of people will talk about "taking responsibility for their actions" yet will, in the same breath say, "I'm bored". It's not the world's responsibility to keep you entertained. This is more of my agreement with the subordinate point, if you're bored with diving...learn something new.
Since this thread took a detour about social media I'll take a stab at it. I'm not on it. I hate it. Try to find me on LinkedIn. If you want a direct correlation to why people complain about the "country going down the drain"... don't blame republicans or democrats, blame social media. Blame our voyeuristic mentality. Blame our basal instinct to be lazy. Did you know that there is a chip that can be implanted in a blind person's eye to help them see? Do you know who spear headed this? Probably not. It's not sensational enough. However, I'm betting that we all know who Kim Kardashian is. Ashamedly, I do as well. His name is Professor Eberhart Zrenner by the way.
You've probably noticed there was a lot of "I" in this. And that's because that's how I look at diving, my job, my career, my hobbies, etc. We're here for a fun time...not a long time. You can have your own view. I don't need to tell you that though. While I disagree with Ron's main premise, The points he makes are solid. Go learn something new, expand your mind, educate yourself, be a better you than you were yesterday. Or don't...I don't give a fuck.