Considering leading a fulfilling life...?

[BluTakDuck]

I had this idea for leaving leaflets and pamphlets in the racks they have at doctors surgeries/bus stations/offices etc. Anywhere that any sort of general interest reading material gets put. It would be a sort of basic introduction to quitting your job and starting a fulfilling life. With tips and general advice on what to do instead, where to find local help, how to figure out your passions/skills. Aimed purely at people who already hate what they do but don't have the balls to find something they'd prefer. So i wrote the introduction and i was wondering about other content and what, if anything, would need changing.

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So you open your head and all this nonsense comes shooting out of it. Shocked and stupid and unable to exist in a space where it does not have a way to explain itself. It's all the little bits and pieces of every time you've shrugged your shoulders and said "nothing really" whenever anyone has asked you what is wrong. It's every wave of rage you repressed because you've had to smile and pretend to be part of the gang when you know that everything the gang represents just seems wrong to you. It's keeping your head down for a slice of the quiet life. It's the little bit of time before going to bed on a night when you say "Tomorrow i'll just stay in bed." But you know you're going to be there like always.

These pieces aren't you.

Do you remember the days when you swore those pieces would never be you? And yet here they are lying on the desk in a ball of blood and brain matter, nodes and rods and cones sprayed across the cheap vinyl worktop as though your head began to reject your inconsistent and ungrateful imagination.

SNAP! Your vision reels itself back in and slaps you between the eyes and you remember that you're sitting at a desk in a urine coloured office surrounded by thirty other people who feel exactly the same way. The radio might as well be yawning for all the good it's doing, the beat matching up perfectly with the ticking clock smirking at you out of the corner of your eye.

This is the point where you will decide the entire course of your life. This is the bit where you will make up your mind who you are for the rest of your days. Is it really such a difficult decision? You know deep down what the correct answer is, and it is so blindingly obvious that you cannot ignore it any longer. This time will be the last time you get to choose. This will be the final chance. Do you want to sit and daydream about having a life that at least seems like it's worth living? Or do you sit out the rest of your sentence? Let's make a list of pro's and con's shall we?

Reasons why you should stay.

Number one. Your partner won't start shouting at you for being irresponsible.
Two. Your parents will be proud of you for sticking with it.
Three. You'll fit in nicely with everyone else. Because no-one really likes work do they? I mean that's why they call it work. You're not supposed to enjoy it. It's just a thing you have to do to be able to make it in this world and call yourself a responsible adult. A grown up.

Cons.
One. You will hate yourself for the rest of your life for not having the guts to do what you actually wanted to do with your life. Whatever that might be. At least you'd be free to travel, for example. Or write that book you're always talking about writing. Or taking that year to teach English in Japan. Or playing music to anyone who'll listen.
Two. You will always regret not taking this opportunity.
Three. You will always know that the people who love you now, truly love and care about you, don't love you for who you are. They love you for your salary and your career prospects. They are proud of the job title. They are happy because you are fitting in nicely, and you're so well adjusted. Thank the stars that you're not interesting or eccentric in any way. That might make you stand out from the crowd.

Are you not taking that step just because you're scared to be yourself? Or are you scared that other people will hate the real you?

Then again, if you're only in it for other people's opinions then there's really not much that I could say that is going to help anyway. Your mind has been made up, and unfortunately not by you.

Just supposing that you do take the chance to be completely and utterly yourself, not bowing to anyone else's demands, or for anyone else's approval. I mean what's the worst that happens? You quit, walk out and give yourself an honest go at life. You have some fun, things don't work out and you get yourself another job. You learn your lesson and everything goes back to normal. But you have to have a go, right?

So what do YOU want to do?"

Any suggestions/advice...? I don't know if there's already threads about this, but i thought since it was a new project a new thread would be best.

[Captain Utopia]

 

I love this idea!  I think it would make an awesome pamphlet.  If you're looking for art, your writing reminded me in places of this (free to use with attribution):

The idea being that while fear of being ostracised keeps people in line, that fear might be diminished if the seed is planted that many people secretly feel the same way.

Riffing on the secrecy idea, you could up the aggressiveness/confidence in the language and hint at a growing organisation of people taking back their lives.  Suggest common signs to help you identify other members.  Tell them that this pamphlet was planted by an acquaintance who knew of their plans in advance and thinks they are ready.  By taking it home they enter Stage 1 and they'll hear about Stage 2 once they've taken the first step in changing their own lives.  If they put the pamphlet back, that decision will be respected and they'll never hear about this again.