Yes, they do exist.

Marc and I saw The Devil wears Prada (starring Anne Hathaway) yesterday at the Gateway. With all the things that have been happening the past few weeks, we needed a break—watching movies have always been the way for me and Marc to relax. I don’t normally do this, but hey, that movie is worth watching… Especially by the typical twenty-something workaholic.

Unless you’re total bum (you know, with that fattening schedule of “wake up, eat, sleep, wake up”), it’s not unavoidable for us to be totally immersed in our work that we have forgotten already to live our lives. Besides, we all aim to succeed. But sometimes, that focus on a certain success can already take over even our social lives.

I have seen this in many of my college friends—yeah, we’re a career-driven batch. I’m guilty of this too, but just in a different form (sometimes I do get very immersed in a project that I rarely go out of the house). But then again, I have the liberty of being able to control my schedule… So when that happens, it would be totally my fault.

“The corporate slave,” that’s what my friends and I used to call them. My closest college buddies and I have had dreams of being our own boss, working at our own time. But when reality sank in, only two of us ended up with that dream.

I remember meeting up with my friends after a long time for a brithday celebration. That was one of the rare instances when our group was nearly complete (one had already migrated to the States). There I saw the changes in my friends who were in the “corporate world”—they were drained, they weren’t really happy. I won’t exactly say that my job is a walk in the park (I get “chained” to a project until it’s complete), but at least I could sleep, take breaks, and play with my dogs whenever I wanted to.

In this line of work, I have encountered some clients who were very much like Meryl Streep’s Miranda character in The Devil wears Prada. They ask the most ridiculous things, out-of-scope stuff. If it’s not taking much of my time, I usually just let it go. But if the client is becoming too demanding already, I would suggest to just let that client go (there are some good articles on this issue, I just forgot the link). I have experienced this myself, and having that out of my hair was like getting a huge torn out of my back.

Some will probably argue, “but money is hard to come by these days.” True. But is losing your integrity and bringing yourself uneccessary psychological drain worth it? Can those be paid in an X amount of dollars/pesos?

I think it would really just depend on you if some client is worth your sanity. But really, is there a job/client/boss important enough to cost you your mental and physical health? I would think not. Well, that’s what I think at least.

My family and I have gone through a lot the past few years that really made me realize there are more important things in life than money. We aren’t rich (and we might never be), but we still have each other and we’re happy.

I really pity those people who think everything in life can be bought, especially those who would settle for a wad of cash in exchange for giving up integrity.