The Growing Pains

After some time, there is a little piece of me thinking and trying to make sense of the world. Many things have happened in the past weeks. I quit my job because I couldn't bear working in this sort of system anymore and I and my man are going to embark on a great, adventurous journey as soon as he is freed up, too (more details on that a little down the path). So, now I am in a state of utter liberation, which, I guess, most people would find terrifying. There are moments where I do, too, believe me, but living a life I don't want to have, experiencing daily frustration and unhappiness is, in my opinion, far more terrifying. 
I sometimes wonder if it is just me not coping so well with things seemingly so easy for others (and then I reprimand myself because there are tons of people feeling like me and I shouldn’t be so egocentric).
Lately, there is an interesting development taking place. As mentioned, I have quit my job, so has my man and three friends of mine. All of us left the safe haven of pensions, daily structure and permanent income to explore possibilities which will, hopefully, make us happier - even if they’re risky.
My best friend, for instance. She is a fabulous opera singer and was trapped in a job in a choir, but she was allowed to sing. Many people would probably kill for that opportunity. So, is she stupid to forsake such a safe job with a monthly income to act as the leading role in a musical? Some might say so, but I don’t. I think it’s admirable and courageous to not settle, but to strive for good, probably even great, not OK.
I am under the impression, "OK" is all we are allowed to ask for and anyone wanting more is a little mouthful. Ask yourself this question: When you think of all the people in your life, is there one who actually is happy - not OK - with his/her life? If so, lucky you, but is there more than one? I doubt it.
We live in a system in which labour is perceived as something monotonous, something mechanical, almost machinerial. This is probably because it stems - as does our school system - from the Industrial Age in the 19th century. Then, labour was merely people who were replaceable, worked hard without questioning and were neither given the opportunity nor the freedom to even think about whether they were happy or not. Of course, we have moved past these times in some ways. We don’t work twelve hours and still have to live on the streets, but it isn’t that much better. If anything, if you ask me, it is just better concealed.
Think about it. In the western world as I grew up in, two people can have full-time jobs and money is STILL an issue. This simply must not be the case. Actually, if you ask me, it should be possible that one individual can nurture a family, as children need their parents, and there are so many single parents who have to support their families, too. So, basically, nothing has changed. Despite giving the major part of our day, our thoughts and efforts to work, most get very little out of it. We still cannot afford houses without selling our souls to banks, holidays are an annual issue and we cannot see our children as often as we would probably like to see them.
Also, creativity, originality and individuality do not have a place in this scheme, as it isn’t intended for people to be creative or innovative. For industrial needs, labour who wouldn’t ask questions but simply execute orders was required, not people who thought creatively (and I am talking about the labour here, not the engineers who developed everything, to be clear.)
The worst thing, however, is that we are not only stuck in the 19th century, but that young people are so intimidated by the working world from everything we hear “You need a proper pension”, “how will you buy a house”, “you need a proper job”, etc, etc, etc, that we seem to hasten into the first best available spot and then linger there, too afraid to move on - especially if it is OK. Here I want to state that these intermediate states, in my opinion, are the worst. "OK" is far worse than "terrible" because it prevents you often from taking action. We endure OK because it could be so much worse, but I’d rather gone OK - worse - horrible - fantastic, than OK - period. I see so many people my age settling already for what they’ve got, drooling over the weekend and only living for their holidays and I feel sad for them. There are situations in life when change isn’t easy anymore - as soon as you have a mortgage or children you have certain responsibilities and everything complicates. So, why settle for OK when you are young enough to not have much to lose? I don’t get it. Also, probably they are happy and that would be great, but why are they then obsessing over weekends and holidays? It almost seems as if they only lived for these parts and their jobs were kind of not-life, which would make them metaphorically dead while at work…
I don’t want to have a job and a life, I want my job to be part of my life. I want to smile every day at least once over the thing I am doing and that is why I am jumping into the cold water, into the metaphorical shark tank...I mean what’s the worst thing to happen really…?