Was Oscar Wilde Right about This?

“If you want to be a grocer, or a general, or a politician, or a judge, you will invariably become it; that is your punishment. If you never know what you want to be, if you live what some might call the dynamic life but what I will call the artistic life, if each day you are unsure of who you are and what you know you will never become anything, and that is your reward.”

Once again, I found myself struggling to answer the question: “What is your occupation?” on an online form. Despite working in hospitality on and off since the day I was eligible to work, which is now coming up to 10 years, I have never perceived myself as a 'barmaid' or a 'waitress'. Since graduating from university two years ago, I have been through a fairly versatile spectrum of jobs. I have got to be a bar manager, copywriter, ski instructor, barista, seasonal grain tester, shepherd, and waitress. I worked in four countries and around two continents. My CV looks like a prank. Especially when, after all, I still had the cheek to call myself a journalist; the only title I had ever truly wanted to bear. With the most recent submission of my CV, however, I changed it to an explorer, as that is what I truly am, both physically and philosophically.

To my ever-wandering brain, there is nothing wrong with changing jobs every few months, quite the opposite. I am finding more and more positives about the way I choose to live. For example:

Freedom. It allows me not to get attached to a place, I can travel and have as many holidays in a year as I want to.

Learning something new. Despite the fact that none of the jobs I have been doing require any sort of expertise, every single one of them taught me skills.

Meeting new people. Self-explanatory. Moreover, there is never such a thing as a colleague or a boss who's making my life hell, and even if there was such a person, we wouldn't have to keep working together for that long.

These are my personal preferences in life right now. However, I can imagine that for somebody else, they would be a burden, as this type of lifestyle is certainly not for everyone. And it shouldn't be. We need reliable doctors, surgeons, lawyers, and farmers who dedicate their lives to the service of others, as well as those who function better under the covers of security and routine than on an open road.

I read Oscar Wilde's quote as him indirectly saying that society is wired to pity those who live 'dynamic' lives. Coming from my own experience, it is true that people don't take me and my life choices very seriously. Funnily enough, it only happens when I am back home, where the question “What do you do” becomes ever-present. Whereas, when I travel, I meet people who live similarly dynamic lives to mine, so the question suddenly changes to “What are your plans now”. Through having both of these experiences, I discovered that one who may seem like an oddball in one environment is perfectly fitted for another. It is all just about a point of view gained through a certain familiar experience, as there is no single correct way to live life.

“If you want to be a grocer, or a general, or a politician, or a judge, you will invariably become it; that is your punishment.”

What Wilde means as a punishment for those who invariably become their profession is that once one identifies too much with what they do, they embody the profession at the cost of their own experience and development. It has been estimated that, on average, we spend a third of our life at work and our personality is highly influenced by the closest circle of those around us. Unwillingly, then, we might adopt a mindset or a lifestyle which we otherwise wouldn't choose for ourselves.

“If you never know what you want to be, if you live what some might call the dynamic life but what I will call the artistic life, if each day you are unsure of who you are and what you know you will never become anything, and that is your reward.”

People who don't attach themselves to a profession, to a label, have the whole world to discover themselves and the mysteries of one's existence. Truly and fully. And as they keep discovering them, they might need to use their creative endeavours to make sense of them all. Wilde calls the dynamic life the artistic life. My interpretation of such a statement is that dynamic life can easily become turbulent, even chaotic. That's why we need an anchor we can always come back to, be it a pen and paper, an instrument, or a canvas.

Having the time and freedom with no attachments offers the room to understand ourselves deep down eventually. And with every new work environment, we keep crystallising into someone who knows exactly where they are meant to be regardless of all the social norms, and what they should do no matter what the majority is saying.

Unlike Oscar Wilde, I don't see the point of criticising anyone's life choice as long as they know why they made it. It is, however, refreshing to see an argument which is in favour of the dynamic life. Those who tend to be misunderstood by society have their share of experience, and it might be beneficial for everyone to hear what they've got to say.