Working for someone else is just a modern form of serfdom. Times haven't really changed that much from the medieval era. 

We put our time, sweat, and labor into making the lord of the castle money, and get only a fraction of the fruits of our labor back. In return for our labor and loyalty, the lord of the castle (aka the employer) gives us benefits like health insurance, life insurance, 401K accounts, and paid time off. These things are designed to make us feel good about giving so much of our lives to keep the lord bathing in riches we produced.

It's a sick, twisted system, and one designed to keep you trapped in it forever.

The term "wage slave" isn't just a metaphor. It's very real, even if you earn a salary.

Back in Ye Olden Days

In medieval times, peasants (that's us) would work the land belonging to their local nobleman. They were allowed to build houses on the land, and live there. The nobleman provided an army to protect the peasants.

In exchange for this protection and a place to live, the peasants were expected to farm the land. They spent much of their days in the fields, planting, tending, harvesting, and taking care of livestock. Though they produced the food that grew out of the land, they owned none of it.

It all belonged to the nobleman who owned the land.

The peasants were paid with a small percentage of the food they produced. The rest of it was sent up to the castle, where the nobleman, and his family, servants, and guests would enjoy its bounty. The peasants often barely recieved enough to feed their own families. The food they sent to the castle constituted their rent and taxes.

They never owned a thing. 

If the nobleman was unhappy with their work or their attitude, if they became to ill or injured to do the work and no one in their family could do it for them, or for no reason at all, he could kick the peasant off of his land. The peasant and his family would have to leave everything behind and wander the countryside, looking for a new nobleman to give them the honor of doing backbreaking work to support him and his castle.

There was no upward mobility except for all but a rare and lucky few who clawed their way into something better. These were the innovators, the ones who thought outside the box, the creative ones who were motivated enough to buck societal norms and see what they could make for themselves. 

Most people didn't bother. With a house to live in, land to farm for a small amount of food, and the protection of someone with their own army, most were content to stay as they were....labor slaves of those who were more rich and powerful than they. It was comfortable, familiar, and safe.

In medieval times, the rich stayed rich, and the poor stayed poor. The whole feudal system was designed to keep it that way.

How Much Have Things Really Changed? (Answer--Not Much)

Even though the feudal system was eventually broken, it didn't change things much, except that a middle class was created. The middle class made more money and had more freedom than the peasants, but they still worked for the ruling class. The peasants just went from working for the rulers to the middle class.

Since time immemorial, the only ones who have ever had any real freedom have been the rich and powerful, and those who refused to play the game set up by society for everyone else.

Take the typical office job of today. There are entry level positions (the peasants), middle management (the middle class), and the board of directors (the ruling class). A peasant might be able to work their way up to the middle class with some effort and networking, but the middle class is largely kept out of the ranks of the ruling class. It's rare that the rulers find one they deem worthy enough to allow to break through that wall and join them.

Trading Freedom for Security....It's What All the Cool Serfs are Doing

Because today's jobs provide benefits (a place to live and the protection of the lord's army), and regular wages or a salary (food to feed their families), most peasants and middle class workers are content to stay where they are, and not rock the boat. 

It doesn't matter to them that their work is going to benefit someone else, that they are making other people unbelievably rich with the sweat from their brows and the time spent away from their families. 

They don't care that they will never become rich and free working for the ruling class, or that the modern feudal system is designed to keep them trapped in their current positions. They know they can't quit because they need the money and benefits. They are too apprehensive about starting a business on their own, because it will take time and money away from their families, and they may not succeed.

No, to the vast majority of entry level and middle management workers in most countries today, having a job working for someone else is a fortunate thing. It can even be a status symbol, especially if they get a job working for a prestigious employer. It doesn't matter if that employer pays them mere pennies of their true worth. They like to brag about the power and/or prestige of "their" lord and master. 

Peasants in feudal times did the same thing.

And, they know if they leave their jobs, there are plenty of other people waiting in the wings who would be happy to take it. They are expendable, which is another reason for them to not rock the boat. It was the same for feudal peasants.

So, What Can Be Done to Change Things?

Unfortunately, the way society is set up, things won't change for most people. They will go to work every day at their wage slave jobs, where people in positions above them can tell them what to wear, when they can take a break to eat, when they can go to the bathroom, what time they have to be there, and when they can leave. 

Our entire childhoods were arranged in a similar way, both at home and at school, so most people don't notice much difference in the working world, much less resent it.

In fact, our modern public schools are set up to turn out good little workers who follow orders unquestioningly.

It will take a pretty large paradigm shift across the whole of society for there to be large-scale change in any of this.

However, just like in medieval times, there are always a creative, adventurous few who see a better way, and go for it.

The Odd Folk

Their friends and family think they are crazy. They are the black sheep, the ones who won't conform. They may be viewed as disappointments to the ones they love, because they didn't step in line with everyone else. 

They are happier for it, though. And, their non-conformity is the only thing keeping the ruling class from becoming too complacent. They don't want everyone marching to their own drummer. They might be knocked from their lofty perches otherwise.

It is in the best interest of the ruling class to make modern wage slavery as comfortable and pleasant as they can for everyone. They may even try to lure the free thinkers into believing they got it wrong, and that working for "the man" is actually the best thing for them. Every effort is made to getting as many people to happily conform as possible, because this is the only way the rich and powerful stay that way.

I Saw Behind the Curtain, and Couldn't Look Away

There are generally two types of free thinkers. Some always know what is going on behind the scenes, and decide to be free from the start. Others discover the truth soon after entering the traditional working world.

I began to suspect the traditional working world was a scam the first time I got a real part-time job, during my first semester of college. It was extremely part-time.....I was a weekend receptionist at a nursing home (ironically, the same one many of my elder relatives would later spend time in). The weekday receptionist and the supervisor both told me many times that if I ever needed a day off, one of them would cover for me. All I needed to do was ask, they said. And they said it more than once.

One time, I DID ask, so I could go to the funeral of the father of a good friend. They denied the request, saying it wasn't fair to the weekday receptionist (the same one who kept offering to work a day for me if I needed her to). When I put up an argument about it, I was given permission to go, but called in the following week and asked to resign.

Thus began my habit of quitting jobs at the drop of a hat if anything happened to piss me off. Unlike the peasants of yesterday and most workers of today, I always believed I could get another job quickly, so unemployment didn't concern me. And, I was right....I always got a new job almost as soon as I left an old one.

It was during my first full-time job, during my second semester of grad school, that I truly became disillusioned with traditional employment. This time, it was an 8-5 job (with an hour break for lunch) as a receptionist for a wetlands preservation company. They were for-profit, though, so there was nothing altruistic going on.

I worked in an office with no windows, and I got no breaks other than lunch. The other office workers got to go outside several times a day for smoke breaks, but I was denied those because I didn't smoke.

At 22 years old, I felt like the world was passing me by beyond those windowless walls. The sun was high in the sky when I arrived in the morning, and already starting to make its descent to the horizon when I left. Any businesses I might need to use opened and closed while I was working. I barely got to spend time at my own house....the first one I ever owned.

God, I was miserable. Going to work felt like going to jail to me. I cried on Sunday nights, knowing I had to go back there the next day.

I started looking at the the want-ads in the newspaper as I sat forlornly behind my desk, scribbling down financial calculations, and dreaming of how and when I could quit this daily trip to the torture chamber and make a better life for myself.

Amen, Charles!

Looking for Meaning Where it Didn't Exist (at Least, Not for Me)

As you can imagine, I didn't work there long. I couldn't. Eventually, after about three months of sheer misery, and with no other job lined up, I just quit. I couldn't take it anymore.

It was a hard thing to do, because my family kept saying how proud of me they were to be working at a start-up company with such great potential. In a decade, I could be in management, they said.

I hated to disappoint them, but I couldn't keep doing it. It wasn't worth it. My happiness was more important than any prestigious employer or title, at least to me.

I ended up getting a part-time job at the College of Arts and Sciences at my university, and living on student loans to cover the rest of my expenses. I was happier to not have to spend so much time in an office, but it still wasn't exactly what I wanted.

Thus began a string of part-time jobs throughout the rest of grad school that I usually quit quickly. I would have stayed at the Arts and Sciences job longer, because I liked my boss, but she got fired, so I left with her.

The longest job I had in grad school was as a substitute teacher, which allowed me the freedom to choose the days I worked, and the schools and grade levels I went to. 

Welcome to the "Real World"

After grad school, I knew I wasn't suited to office work, so I didn't bother to look for it. I enjoyed the substitute teaching and the freedom it offered, so I looked for a job as a regular teacher. I found it as a part-time adjunct college professor, and as a full-time elementary school teacher. Though my degree wasn't in education, I was able to get a temporary teaching certificate based on my degree, and some extra college classes I took toward the permanent certification requirement.

While teaching offers more freedom than your regular office job, it's still a shit load of hard work; I actually liked substitute teaching better. I tried office jobs a few more times, but never lasted more than a few days at one before quitting, because I quite simply find those types of jobs to be soul-crushing. I can't do them. Some people can, but I can't even make myself do it when I'm broke. To me, ANYTHING is better than working in an office, even panhandling (which, thankfully, I've never had to do).

Other jobs included working with troubled kids, working in a children's museum, working as an admissions counselor at a community college, and working from home as a background investigator. All offered more freedom than an office job. But, none of them made me happy. I was always working for someone else, and I RESENTED working for someone else. 

I wanted my work to be for me, not for stuffing the pockets of someone else full of cash based on my labor.

How I Broke Free of Modern Serfdom (and You Can, Too)

I'll never forget getting a call from my "team leader" with the background investigating job, telling me another investigator saw me in the parking lot of one of the military bases where we did a lot of our work, and I was wearing sneakers. This was clearly against the professional dress code of the company, and he wanted an explanation. 

God, some people are such busybody snitches. This isn't Kindergarten. Or, I THOUGHT it wasn't. Apparently, it was.

I told him I had to wear those sneakers because they had orthopedic inserts inside that I needed to provide maximum comfort for my knees after having them replaced. I couldn't wear the inserts with dress shoes, and no way could I wear heels. 

Knowing those inserts fell under "reasonable accommodations" with the Americans With Disabilities Act, he simply asked if I could get a darker pair of sneakers to match my black dress pants. I never did find out which childish other investigator decided to "tell on me."

I DID realize that, even in a job where my office was my house and I made my own schedule, I still wasn't really free.

Few things annoy me more than being told what I "have" to do.

No one understood it when I didn't want to go back to work there after going out on disability for another knee surgery, not even my husband. Everyone I knew said most people would love to work a job like that one.

I didn't, because I didn't want a job. I wanted to create an income that was all my own. No bosses. No rules. Just me, doing what I loved, making money doing it, with complete freedom.

It's Not Easy, But it IS Worth It

Since then, I've turned a part-time freelance writing business into a full-time one. I've also found ways to supplement my income, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot, with an ever changing roster of side gigs. 

Some things I've done (and some of which I continue to do) include:

• Buying and selling antiques (this one is a lot of fun, since I enjoy going to auctions and estate sales)
• Buying and selling used textbooks
• Doing gigs on Fiverr (it can add up to a decent income)
• Using apps like Mobee and Field Agent to get mystery shopping gigs in my area
• Making and selling all-natural beauty and cleaning products on Etsy
• Online tutoring
• Freelance genealogy research
• Buying and selling domain names
• Publishing my first novel and learning how to market it
• I've even made a tiny bit on money with affiliate marketing and Adsense, but not enough to justify the effort put into it

I've got a friend who is trying to talk me into driving for Uber, but I'm concerned about my safety as a woman driving strangers around.

I've got other ideas for ways to make money. I'm always coming up with something new. And, though my income varies greatly, from times of amazing abundance to times when I have to dig out the credit cards or even pay my bills late, the bills always DO get paid. 

(I do, incidentally, have a husband, but he's been on disability for about 12 years now, and his financial contribution to the household is minimal. He pays for a few things here and there. But, I'm the one paying the bills around here.)

I haven't had the power, cable, or water turned off since the first year I went totally independent in working for myself. I always have enough money for food. I manage to feed and care for four cats. And, I give generously to charities that are important to me.

I think I've got it pretty good.

Conclusion--How Badly Do YOU Want Freedom?

Are you content to keep existing as a serf? Because you're on Seemit, I assume you want more for your life than that, and are seeking it, at least in part, here. 

It's a good start, especially if this is your first foray into making money outside of your wage slave job. The money potential here is real. While I haven't raked in the thousands per post some people do YET (I'm working on it, and I have the patience to get there), I HAVE made some decent money on this platform....enough to consider it a reliable side gig.

Break Free, but Be Smart About How You Do It

The main thing is not to put all of your eggs in one basket. As a freelance writer, I have more than one client. I also have more gigs than just freelance writing. Whenever I see an opportunity for making money in a way that is enjoyable to me, I give it a try.

You never know if it's going to work for you unless you try it and give it your best effort. Take time to learn some new skills, too. They may help you score better clients or discover new side gigs where you can make some supplementary cash.

Unless you've built a strong brick and mortar business in the "real world," you should always have more than one source of income. This is especially true if you're an online entrepreneur.

The good news is, you don't NEED traditional serfdom employment. There are enough moneymaking opportunities in the world to keep you well-fed and able to do the things you love. The Internet gives you a worldwide market for your services and/or products. You can even make enough money to buy your own health insurance, or create a health savings account.

If traditional serfdom employment is making you miserable, and you sense there might be more to life than just working for "the man," you're right, and you can do something about it. You only get to live this particular life once. You get others if you believe in reincarnation, as I do, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't make this one as awesome as you want it to be. So, make the most of it. Enjoy it. Celebrate it. Do what makes YOU happy.

Me, being happy.

Don't live your life as a wage slave. You don't have to. Be the one serf in a million who reaches for something more, and becomes their own person.

Break free.

If you enjoyed this blog post, please follow me at @stephmckenzie to get more posts like this sent directly to your Steemit feed. Thanks for your readership and support, everyone. It means a lot to me.

Thanks, also, to some really cool memes floating around Facebook. I don't know who created you, but you really helped make this post make its point extremely well.