Earlier this morning, I drove past a church with one of those signs on the front lawn that usually has some message that urges you to find God "or else".  I'm always amazed at how they manage to make them both whimsical and threatening at the same time.

ANYWAY...I mostly just drive by those signs and shake my head, but today I saw one that featured a phrase I'd like to remind myself of on a regular basis.  Here it is:  

"There are no U-Hauls Behind Hearses"

Very eleoquently put, church sign dude!

You may know that I've written on the topic of not being a slave to your possessions before, but I think it's worth "resurrecting" (ha ha) in the context of being trapped by your job.

You probably have noticed that when you listen to most people complain about their jobs, oftentimes it's followed by a laundry list of reasons why they can't quit.  And 9 times out of 10, the reasons are financial. They have giant mortgages, they have to make their car payments, they have credit card debt to pay off.

Sometimes those financial reasons make logical sense---think: health care, reasonable mortgages, food and clothing for a family of 6, etc.  But most of the time they don't---think: high priced cars, LCD TV's, overpriced shoes, brand name jeans, iPhones, designer purses and watches, etc.

My all time favorite reason for someone staying in a job was given to me by a friend a few years ago.  After listening to her, nearly in tears, complain for half an hour about how overworked, miserable and mistreated she was, I  asked her why she doesn't quit such a horrible job.  With a straight face, she matter-of-factly explained that her husband just bought a $1400 vacuum cleaner the week before and they now have to pay that off.  After that, all her complaints fell on my deaf ears.    

It's a vicious circle, you know?  You want stuff--->you buy stuff--->you have to pay for stuff--->you have to go to work every day in a place you hate to pay for the stuff--->you get depressed and you want more stuff to fill the void--->.

Rinse and repeat.

How do you break the cycle?  You begin to free yourself from "stuff", that's how.  As the sign implies, you can't take it with you anyway.  Once you start doing that, you start craving less, you start being much more content with less and you start to feel the freedoms that come from having less.  This freedom allows you to feel much more in control about your destiny and any job that's making you miserable.  You're no longer tied down by the job.  It doesn't own you, you own it. 

Try it. 

I've included a link at the bottom of this post to a church sign generator to create your own church signs---cool!  If you make any, let me know in comments below what you made them say =)