My cultural awakening: The Big Lebowski inspired me to embrace unemployment

The Dude’s relaxed attitude towards the pressures of life helped me realise it was better to be jobless than stuck in one I hated

Quitting your job in your 30s with no solid plan is generally considered poor decision-making. Doing it because you watched The Big Lebowski is probably even worse. But& as I faced up to what would be my eighth year in an IT role, I watched Jeff Bridges meandering his way through the chaos of life in a dressing gown. And I found myself thinking: maybe the Dude had it figured out.

For most of my working life, my identity has been strongly bolstered by& work: doing well career-wise felt& like& evidence of my utility and& respectability (despite the fact no one ever really understood what my job was anyway). And, like most millennials, I’d felt exceptionally lucky& to eventually get a grad job out& of university at all, especially one that paid more than a “living wage”. On top of that, as a& second generation immigrant, I’d been repeatedly told from a young age that being jobless is& a& terrible state of& affairs.