Working life is often defined by the idea that more agency is freedom, and that power will be earned with hard work. Resentment (Ura: 怨) of the control of superiors and supervisors is rampant, and, we are told, relief comes with promotion and greater responsibility.  For some (me included), letting go of the material wants that require a career can be easier than suppressing the ego and ambition that define a careerist.  But, just as easily as a mortgage, traditional attitudes about ‘success’ can fit you into those wage-earner shackles.  Helping to shift my perspective, Lao Tzu provides a quick summary of the situation:

善用人者，為之下

To best make use of someone, work below them.

While this ambiguous passage in the Daode Jing has translations that differ from my own, the following chapter is much more straightforward, and spells things out pretty clearly (#66, Red Pine’s Translation):

The reason the sea can govern a hundred rivers is because it has mastered being lower.

Though I sometimes slip into the old habits of ambition and measuring myself against other people, for the most part, my resentment for bosses has turned into sympathy.  I see their busy meeting schedule, I read their late-night emails, and I can hear the stress in their tired voices.  Their ‘success’ is doing me a favor.  Their flourishing careers are setting me free.  Fretting over quarterly profits and company transitions, they leave the simple tasks for me. Paying a premium for goods and services to unwind, their lifestyles drive down the cost of my simple pleasures.

Someday, not so long from now, I should be lazily weeding my modest garden on a sunny weekday afternoon.  Meanwhile, there will still be the quarterly profits and late-night emails to fret over, and I am sure that someone else will climb the ladder to greet them.