To work or not to work, what is the question?

Out of all working definitions of "work", the following is my favorite: To work is to exert oneself by doing mental or physical effort for a purpose or out of necessity.

Never in my whole life did I apply for a job or experience the anxiety of job hunting, except vicariously. Alma mater has nourished me and sheltered me my whole life. However, time has come for huge decisions dictated by self-fulfilling purposefulness and stable economic necessity.

Reasons behind my quasi-eternal PhD phase can be attributed to my fear of pointless graduation and post-graduation, that will expose me to a whole new plethora of job opportunities, impartially related to my PhD investment.

From an economically driven perspective, the following chart illustrates the average salaries (USD) for job positions that appeal to my interest or qualifications. 

Average Salary of Jobs with Titles Matching Your Search

In USD		25k 50k 75k
associate/full professor	$69,000
researcher	$62,000
freelance photographer	$40,000
novelist	$48,000
freelance artist	$46,000
postdoc	$41,000
assistant professor	$49,000
adjunct professor	$49,000
translator	$50,000

Of course, the academic track following PhD usually debuts with a post-doc (~$40,000/year) and then trifurcates (splits) into three tracks: Adjunct, Researcher and Tenure. Adjunct or visiting professors are more easily hired on a short term contract. Researchers are dedicated to full-time research while professors, very competitively, climb up the tenure ladder, at best tri-annually, from assistant professor (~$50,000/year) to associate professor (~$60,000/year) to full professor (~$80,000/year).

NB. The minimum wage in the US is $13,920 for full-time employers under a $7.25/hr. Dishwashing salaries start at $8/hr.

I decided to look at job postings for the selection of jobs that I would be interested in pursuing or find myself qualified for.

While freelancers are commitment-free gypsies, flexible to accommodate almost any creative activity, they are not offered social benefits. I still ask myself, how can I ever self-sustain myself when I despise prolonged sustainability? The paradox of commitment to indifference holds no answers for my future so far.

I will end this with some work related quotes (in French):

"Travailler dur n'a jamais tue personne, mais pourquoi prendre le risque?" (Edgar Bergen)
"Le travail est pour moi la chose la plus sacrée !!...... c'est pour ca que j'y touche pas !!!"
"La liberté commence dés qu'on a deux chefs."
"L'homme n'est pas fait pour travailler, la preuve c'est que cela le fatigue" (Voltaire)
"Le travail est l'opium du peuple et je ne veux pas mourir drogué" (Boris Vian)
"Le 1er mai, c'est la Fête du Travail. Mais pourquoi a-t-on congé alors ce jour-la ?" (Proverbe communiste)
"Si tu as envie de travailler, assieds-toi et attends que ca passe" (Proverbe Corse)