The dragon slayer

Have you ever found yourself knee deep buried in your work and wondering how you ever got so far into it? When you feel like you eat, breath and sleep work and you don’t see the end of it all the while loving every moment of it? Every time you accomplish a big goal, you feel like you climbed the highest mountain and swam four times across the ocean and still, the next day you return even more energized to work? This is what I feel like, every single day. Well, almost.

I feel like I am fighting with fire breathing dragons (read: nasty customers) every single day and at the end of the day, I have barely enough energy to keep my head high, but I breath in deeply. I did it, survived another crazy busy work day and absolutely loved it. Obviously some days are a bit more difficult than others, OBVIOUSLY. For me, that is a typical Tuesday. Tuesdays are for me what Mondays are for Garfield. I absolutely dislike Tuesdays and I have no logical explanation for it. I feel great on Mondays because that is the start of the week and that is a good enough reason for me to feel energized. When Wednesday roles around, the week is almost over, therefore a reason to celebrate but Tuesdays? I could live a happy life having never to work on a Tuesday ever again. Reading Tuesdays with Morrie didn’t really help that much either.

The fact is, work is an important part of life. It might not fulfill you the way you made it out to be when you were little, but it fulfills you in different ways. And I don’t mean the money pitfall, but rather the exhilarating feeling you get, when you accomplished something. Something that seems small and insignificant to others, but you know that it is big, real big. Finishing a marathon is different, because that is an emotional affair that you have with yourself, but successfully surviving another day at work is like claiming a sparkly unicorn at the fair.

I know, that working these days, when it seems half of your friends are on vacation while the other half is enjoying the afterwork-hours at any kind of outdoorsy bar, are difficult and exhausting. Everyone seems to be living the big life, having tons of fun and sunburns, while you are working and working and working. The only glasses you wear are reading glasses, while your friends sunbathe with the newest model of ray-ban glasses. You keep telling yourself that the weekend will come soon, although you know, you will work on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, even more.

I am not complaining about long working hours, the feeling of exhaustion or longing for vacation, because I absolutely love my job. I love helping others, I love being in the front line of daily technology and I love seeing the numbers go beyond anything, because of how much work I put in it. But at the end of the day, I lock the doors, leave my exhaustion at the doorstep to my two-bedroom apartment and go home. Because even the fiercest of all dragon slayers needs to rest. Even the bravest of all dragon slayers need a break and enjoy the perks of having a day off.

With this, I urge you, to find your dragon, own it, make yourself stronger and don’t forget, taking a break is important too. Only then you will find, that the dragon that haunts you at night, is what you are looking for to live an extraordinary life.

On a side note: Please don’t go out there in his big world and try to hunt down dragons (or any other kind of animals for that matter), that’s not cool, but fight your metaphorical dragons like your own OCD-tendencies, your own sloppiness or your own urge to quit your job and watch movies all day.