The Anti Hustle

Well there is a new term out there called quiet quitting and it is basically the antithesis to the Hustle mentality.  The let's do more, learn more and take on more responsibility mentality has given way to the "I'm good" mentality and I understand completely.  You see my family is full of hustlers and over achievers - people that started their own business, traveled around the world, gone back to school to get more and more education, and for the most part I followed similar paths. I took one of the hardest under grad majors in college, was willing to work whenever for my employers (including being locked in for 12 days once), go wherever was needed and learn what was needed.  All in the hopes that I would continue to ascend the ranks.  However, my ascension was a dealt a critical blow earlier in the year.   The plant manager was relieved of their duties and several people in the plant had mentioned that I should take the position.  I pondered on it, and long story short I decided that for the people that worked there and for my own benefit  - if I was going to work another 20 years - that I should go for it.  The bad news is that I was never offered the position.  Never interviewed. Never even asked what I thought should happen and I am the most senior person now at the plant.  Instead someone was brought from a completely different country, who was already a manger at another plant, and given this plant.  Within 3 months the production manager was fired in the name of "safety" and I vehemently disagreed with that decision.  So now I have gone from potential plant manager to person who doesn't get asked about any decisions that affect the plant.  And who gets most of the fall out... me. Unfortunately when people get fired they take all their experience and knowledge with them, and simply replacing a body doesn't replace the skills.  So 6 months later I'm still at the same job, basically zero prospects to improve my position as I've learned first hand and facing a decision.  And here is where things get tricky.  If I no longer like my job should I look for another job?  The problem is if I leave the hustle starts all over and quite frankly I am over the hustle of it all especially if there is nothing to gain at the end of the day.  My mentality has shifted to - what do I need to retire and it is actually a much more welcome idea than what do I need to accomplish to move up the ladder.  Heck I don't care about the ladder any more.  The only bad thing is if I keep doing my job as effective as I have been other people will continue to look good and benefit from my work.  Not a huge fan.  But by the same token I can't sink people because the would wind up sinking me.  So this no hustle mentality is really a fine line of push the ball down the field, just don't let it go backwards and use your position to fill your goals outside of work.  Don't make work your goal.  So what if you get a promotion, get moved up.  Are the making statues of you?  Are they writing books?  Who's reading those books or looking at your statue?  If it isn't something you truly enjoy, then why do it?  Well I need that money, yo. Right we still need to be employed and as awesome as it would be to just walk in and hand in the notice you really can't just quit to do nothing.  At least not with a family.  So can I eek out an existence here, not ruffle feathers, and just get to the finish line?  I mean once you come to the reality that your not going to be the CEO and I have no desire to be the CEO, you have to be content with what you are doing, but content isn't happy.  The bad thing is after you get to this point I don't know that you can be happy working.  I have a ton of other things I would rather do - run, work on my house, make trips.  I for sure don't want to miss anything my daughter is in, especially not for this place.  I don't want people to lose their jobs, but I also don't want to work myself to death.  The biggest  thing that I have noticed in the last 6 months is that no one is really interested in helping me.  People just want stuff from me.  But I want stuff for my self.  Mostly I just want to be free to do what I want to do, novel idea right?  If I start somewhere else the hustle comes back, which I wouldn't mind the hustle if it was something I really wanted to do.  Just right now, after 22 years of work and 5 years of education, I'm good.  I don't want to learn a new facility and new rules, I just want to focus on me and my family and what I want to do away from here.  If I could announce pro games and make a living I would do that.  I started doing high school last year and the response has been really amazing.  I have fun, and I find myself thinking about announcing stuff rather than other things.  It has been a welcome distraction from the stuff I have been dealing with for my mom and the work stuff.  Don't get me wrong, I am glad that I hustled as much as I did and I grateful to have a supportive wife that didn't complain and let me do what I had to do without making me feel bad.  But I feel bad about missing opening days, missing my son run in a local race or the first race of season.  I've been taking time in the morning to complete breathing exercises, do some yoga and lift some weights and I feel better about myself doing that than getting to work 15 minutes earlier.  I mean I'll put my time in, but with a phone I get messages and e-mails 24/7 so sometimes it is hard to switch off, but I try to only respond during work hours unless it is an emergency or one of the people who has helped me.  Well I that's enough for now.  I'll check in later and let you know how this new mental approach works.  Also sorry for the long paragraph, there should probably be a break in there somewhere...

Travel Chronicles chapter 109

So this video got flagged on Youtube because I go a little in the weeds on vaccines.  Here's the thing, after a certain point of census in theory, when you push things out to the real world the theory gets replaced by data.  And for any data references I have mainly been using the Covid tracker over at World o meters - COVID Live - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer (worldometers.info)  They have all the data as far as new cases and deaths and it seems to track pretty closely with Johns Hopkins stuff but is a little easier to navigate for me.  So just basing some things from that DATA and drawing some conclusions besides the feel good stuff coming from the "consensus" I see that there was a spike in cases in late summer which is odd because more and more people had been getting the shots and as you go on the cases should become less if the vaccine works.  But there was a funny little caveat that they included with the vaccine that it wouldn't stop the spread, but would decrease the chances of death and severe illness.  Ok fine.  But normal vaccines stop stuff.  Polio vaccine - stops polio, small pox vaccine - stop small pox.  Covid vaccine - doesn't stop it necessarily.  And you can see that in the data.  But when you mention that it doesn't stop it and cases are still going up despite increased vaccines you get a warning for "misinformation" even though by all accounts the data says the vaccine is minimally effective against spreading it and there is absolutely no way to verify how sick someone would have gotten without it.  Would they have died? You honestly don't know.  I had Covid, I was sick for about 5 days. Never had a fever, never had the muscle aches, lost taste and smell and was tired.  That was it.  The big question to me from this video is why didn't we work on cures for the infection? Any time someone suggested something they were met with ridicule and venom - oh antibodies won't work just get the vaccine, invermectin is for parasites etc. I'm not saying I have the cure, but when there is only one solution for a global problem that seems ludicrous to me.  Anyway here is my back door attempt at this even though blogger is google and youtube is google.  Enjoy.

LOL it's too big.  Ok have to find another way.  hang in there.