From the Hip #6 - "...like it's your job."

Have you ever stopped to consider the phrase "like it's your/my job" and what it says about our culture? 

"Holy crap, I'm out of shape... I'm going to start running every morning like it's my job." 
"This new book is so good I'm gonna spend the next week reading it like it's my job." 
"If you really want to lose weight, start following a balanced diet like it's your job." 
"I feel like I haven't spent any time with my wife in weeks... I'm going to spend start spending time with her like it's my job." 
"Man, he's chowing down on that burrito like it's his job!"

What's the message here? That "your job" is the most significant thing in your life, apparently. Any time I've heard this phrase used, it's applied to something personal: a personal fitness goal, personal health, a passion project, an enjoyable hobby, a personal venture started long ago. Lurking behind this phrase is this idea that personal endeavors should be secondary to our "job"—that whatever it is, it's not that important unless it's making us money, or unless someone with a bigger salary and fancier title than us is telling us to do it. Is that how we want to live? Is that the metric by which we wish to define importance? I, for one, believe that we ought to be prioritizing ourselves, our health, our passions, what we care about, what we believe in, what satisfies us and enriches our lives to the greatest degree. You should be doing what you do because you want to. Turn the tables on how you perceive what's important. If you really want to commit your efforts to something, tell yourself and your friends that you're going to "start running every morning like it's my passion," not "...like it's my job."

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Strong of heart, strong of mind, strong of swole.