I work in Shifts!

Yes.. I am also one of those. A small part of the BIG BIG IT crowd. Do I like my job? Lets just say.. I don’t hate it. Then why am I here? The lil something called Recession hit when I was eying a core job. My option was to do my MBA the same year or drop a year. I chose to work and wait for two years, to find out what it is that becomes the lifestyle of grown ups.
I work in shifts, which has some problems. I can’t join any clubs/classes/ My job requires me to work weekends too. Public holidays too, we work. By that I mean, I cant really take up an interest, that has nothing to do with my work, and pursue it passionately outside work.. And that forces me to think: we work to live, not the other way round. Don’t we?
I think all of these my regrets got accumulated and I got this crazy dream one night. That the entire world now works in shifts. Everything is available 24x7. Shops, Multiplex, Malls, theatre, clubs.. everything. People are working in shifts everywhere and trust me.. World seemed a better place! I could learn swimming with my coach at midnight. I could grab my favorite sub sandwich at 2 in the morning (which btw is around lunch time in day hours). I could go shopping for that 1 dress, I always wanted but just did not find enough time to look for it! Since the places to hang out were open 24x7, frequency of meeting with my friends increased 10 folds! We could all sit and bitch about our jobs, peers and everything under the sun!
So here is this crazy idea! Lets have the world working in shifts (3 times the current employment guys! 8x3=24) and bring joy to lakhs of IT people who are not able to do so many more things they want to! And just the idea, that other people are working the same way and not having pity on us for working shifts.
While writing this, I just pondered, is it actually regret which could have got the dream in my head or…Because..
You know.. I sort of like shift pattern despite the obvious disadvantages. If you ask me the reason.. I don’t know exactly why. Probably because I am staying away from my family.. so eating/sleeping on time and festivals etc is not an issue.
It could be: the not-in-routine factor: like, you may have a leave when the entire world around is buzzing around with their daily activites. And you may be fully operational on the day when everyone is at their dormant best.
Shifts have their charm: I work during nights/odd hours and somehow that keeps me connected to my college days. Same way the, we would work the odd hours as the routine thing was just so uncomfortable to follow. And I think, now that I am working in the not-uncomfortable timings, why do I crib?? The thing is: Whatever you have, is never perfect. So its your choice: To focus on the imperfections and miss the charm or focus more on what you can do and take it from there.
I thought like that and kicked myself for blaming the easiest prey ‘shifts’, I can learn swimming… shifts not withstanding. I can join driving classes (shifts might actually help in this case!) I can do whatever I want to.. If only, I decide and not let my laziness come into the way! The sad part is, I am not the only one finding excuses. I know for a fact, everyone (shift people :) ) is! So, this is just an appeal to you all, to stand up and do what you want to. It could be learning a foreign language, amateur theatre, gardening, script-writing, creative writing, learning about the stock market, whatever. Dump away the laziness. We all know, the shift pattern does give us more time for ourselves than our peers doing regular duty. And for my brethren, who are balancing everything well with their shifts… I take inspiration from you!! I just hope this thought wont just fly away and stay with me, that’s why I wrote it down. I need to get rid of my laziness…ASAP!