Nostos

Returning to normal life can be difficult when a vacation is over. To be on vacation is to own the day and yourself. When it’s over, gone are the slow mornings, fresh-cut fruit, and brewed coffee prepared for you. Smiles – gracious smiles and heartfelt good mornings from the hotel staff fuel vacation mornings. Their “office” is full of people who are happy they’re not home.

You’re near tears at the thought of leaving and the walk through first class back to your middle seat in coach doesn’t help. On Monday morning you make your coffee and, if lucky, you’ll make it through the week without spilling it onto yourself or your desk. You position your car in line and try not to scream.

The workday is spent making someone else money while you claim a pitiful penny. But the most egregious offender is the daily commute whereby you sit in a car to get to an office where you will sit again. 

You’ve chosen convention over adventure. A false sense of security over actual security. You overhear a co-worker’s performance being discussed and can’t wait for AI to take over and put us all out of our misery.

You’re the product of a generation threatened with mediocrity. Promised that without a college degree and a requisite steady job your life would be subpar and miserable. You, a fool before you had any sense.