Work can literally be fun — fun like playing.

Every night, an expensive SUV drops my friend in front of her home and picks her up every morning. Anyone looking at my friend’s life would find no problem. After all, the company she works for pays her well and she even has a personal chauffeur she knows by name.

What could be missing from her seemingly luxurious life?

Her heart is missing from my friend’s attitude towards her work. When she enters her living room, she does not look like an assigned company driver has just dropped her in front of her home. Her shoulders are slumped and her 34-year-old face has years of frustration on it. She hurls her briefcase on the sofa and exclaims, “Ugh. I hate my job!” For the past five years, her boyfriend has heard her say this statement every night she comes home. Instead of arguing the same, old argument, “change your job to something you like,” he puts her tired feet on his lap and rubs it to release tension from her body.

This is a typical night in my friend’s life.

My friend is an accomplished lawyer in one of the best prestigious firms in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.

But…

She works insane hours for money and prestige — not because she enjoys defending clients. Her voice is laced with frustration every time we talk. It’s like someone has put a gun on her head and she has to work to survive. But no one is putting a gun on her head. She has put a gun on her head that makes her regard work as if someone is forcing her to do work she hates.

Unfortunately, my friend is not the only one who regards work as an unpleasant duty. Most friends I know are working on a job chosen for them by their parents or the desire to make lots of money or prestige — or sheer inertia.

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To your inspiration,

Banchi