How Copywriting Saved Me From ‘Living to Work’
My entire life, the American Way of working life has rubbed me the wrong way . I used to ask my parents questions like “why can’t you take more time off of work?” and “why is dad working on the weekends, too?” Of course, a lot of this was my small, kid-brain not understanding that we needed money to live comfortably, but some of it was an innate understanding that I could nevera allow work to be my entire life’s purpose.
Most of my young adult life has looked pretty similar to most of my peers. I got 2 degrees and started a job within the government. I worked for the goverment for almost 4 years, 40+ hours a week, for 12 days off a year. TWELVE days off a YEAR. My adult-brain still think that sounds insane. When I started traveling a ton, I noticed that other cultures didn’t understand this concept at all. One time, a Spanish friend of mine said to me “you Americans are always so stressed out. You live to work, but you should be working just enough to live well.” This hit home for me. In most other countries, they dont even ask kids the all too familiar question we know since the time we were 4 years old- “what do you want to be when you grow up?” They let kids be kids, without the pressure of needing to decide where they will work forever. Studies continually show that other countries, like Finland, Norway, Germany, and Switzerland, have exceptionally high rates of life satisfaction. Maybe these 2 things are combined. Maybe theres something to this “work to live” mentality rather than the “live to work” one we employ in America. I’ve struggled with how to acheive this for years. Enter, copywriting.
Copywriting offers such a unique, but ever more common, relationship with “work”. With the freedom to set your own schedule and make enough money working UNDER 40 hours a week, from anywhere in the world you want to be, the crushing pressure of always having to be in work mode melts away. You get to choose your clients, choose your projects, and set your own values around work, life, and money. It’s a freedom in this area of my life like I’ve never known. I can take a month off when I need to and know I’ll still have an income when I’m back. I can spend more time with people, things, and places that bring me pure joy. Copywriting is such a flexible industry that will keep on giving. Every business, every product, every website, etc, needs copy! There is no shortage of work, and that creates less of a competetive nature to the industry, which allows copywriters to really hone in on their craft without worrying about anything past their copy being excellent, because of course, you still nee to perform to be hired. Its a completely different vibe that your typical corporate or governement ladder climbing game, and that is something thats priceless.
I’m still new to the game here, but I can already tell it is going to be a game changer for me. I know that sometimes, the 9-5 work schedule wont be conducive to certain seasons of my life, and having copywriting to lean on when thats the case? An amazing feeling that I’ll be forever grateful for.
