The ‘W’ Word
The definition of ‘Escapologist’ at Urban Dictionary, with reference to us goes:
Escapologist. Noun. (pronounced: es’cap·ol’o·gist). One who actively seeks to escape the imaginary manacles of modern life: work, debt, government, leisure industries, status and anxiety.
But, for marketing purposes, I’d prefer something punchier. How about:
Escapologists: we don’t do the ‘w’ word.
By which I mean ‘Work’. Obviously.
Most of us are pretty enthusiastic about walking, of course.
And a few of us are WWOOFERs.
And I know of a certain ‘w’ word which is the all-time number-one activity among the self-employed.
And some of us are wannabe writers.
And I once got an email from a reader who whittles.
But apart from those ‘w’ words, we don’t do the ‘w’ word.
Am I waffling?
Escapologists: we do lots of things that could be described as the ‘w’ word, but not very much of one particular ‘w’ word, that word being ‘work’. We try to avoid that.
Punchy.
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About Robert Wringham
Robert Wringham is the editor of New Escapologist. He also writes books and articles. Read more at wringham.co.uk
Amen. Actually I’ve realized that I don’t mind “work” in general terms, provided that I’m working for me, at my own pace, in the activity of my choosing, accountable to nobody.
Because there were two things about work that used to irritate me: 1) the fact that I worked for, and often with, a bunch of assholes; and 2) the fact that I worked in “organizations”, soulless entities in which I was an input, whose purpose was to achieve ends that didn’t mean anything to me.
So if you eliminate the people and the structure, maybe work isn’t so bad. I realize that this narrows the field a bit, but hey…you’re [insert your age here] years old and dying, you know?