AriKoinuma.com

I’d like to think it’s a positive thing when I say that I work hard.  But I’m afraid I fall into the camp for those who work too hard.

Like continuing to drive without refueling.  How effective is that?  It really doesn’t take long to reveal the true cost of your ultra-short-sighted decision, to keep working.

In some ways, I feel like we equate preparing for tomorrow as the wise move.  From retirement saving to insurance, it’s all about being prepared.  You work hard today, you sacrifice today, so you can have a better tomorrow….

Except that, tomorrow is not promised.

If you’re searching out for something -
Don’t try so hard
If you’re feeling kinda nothing -
Don’t try so hard
When your problems seem like mountains
You feel the need to find some answers
You can leave them for another day
Don’t try so hard

“Don’t Try So Hard” is one of many moments that just totally get me from Queen’s Innuendo, the final album completed before Freddie Mercury’s passing.  In the context of his pending departure, a message like this is all the more poignant and powerful.

Imagine a dying man telling you “You can leave them for another day.”  But he doesn’t have another day.

And therein lies the point — do you really want to keep working for tomorrow? Is it really a good day, when, after working for 14 hours that day, you know you’re going to get overtime pay in 2 weeks?

Obviously, the context is important here.  I’m not saying that’s always a bad decision.

But for me, I’ve worked long and hard thinking “this is gonna make my future better.”  I’d be more prepared, wealthier, freer…. except that I keep working and working, and that day never comes.

I’m working too hard.

“Don’t Try So Hard” gets to me, because I still haven’t learned the lesson completely, yet.  I’m always trying so, so hard, to prevent/solve problems for tomorrow.

Perhaps, for some of us — what we need to do is to leave them for another day.

Instead of working, living for a change.