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work

Book

[Yesterday: 3.4 miles; none today]

I checked out a book at the library:  Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford.

I have been enjoying it.  The subtitle is a good summary:  “An inquiry into the value of work”

Mr Crawford sees some serious problems in the erosion of personal agency in corporate culture.

Up until recently I’ve been able to avoid most of those problems by being a “one man band” at my job.  I could talk to my user community, make decisions, take action, and maybe see improvement or not.  But here about a year ago I got a new boss who has taken over some of the decision making.  Then I got a co-worker, and another new boss between me and my old-new-boss.  I’m starting to feel less and less connected to whatever good may be coming out of my work.

So this book has me wondering how I can capture that feeling of accomplishment again.

One overlooked part is the need for income, although the author does mention it in a place or two.  If I didn’t need the money it would definitely be easier to become a teacher or a welder.  I’ve gone too far down this road I’m on, and I don’t know if there is any actual way off until such time as retirement, or near retirement should arrive.   And I’ve been too lazy to be proactive about it; I could be saving up money to take a leap, but haven’t done that.

Oh well, I have it easy.  I eat too much food too, and my wife is too pretty.  So we all have our problems.