Nothing happens until we knuckle down into the work, whatever that work may be.

This doesn't mean we're supposed to slog it out under duress. It doesn't mean we need to work long hours in places we'd rather not be. It doesn't mean we have to suffer in jobs we hate.

But many of us do it, anyway.

We get caught in a rut. Either we start our working lives in jobs somebody else chose for us, or we work for the sake of money – or both, or some variation of that. Work lacks meaning and we trade time for money.

It's a sorry state of affairs, yet it is a reality for many people.

But now, as millions of us sit at home drawing the scratcher or some other form of temporary welfare, there is an opportunity to reassess our working lives. We can take the time we have been gifted to examine our role in life, what daily work means to us, and how we can find fulfilment in it.

Or we can do nothing and expect life to return to how it used to be.

Well, it wont.

We can experience nothing good in work without positive engagement, and any thought to the contrary just enables us to avoid the difficulty of facing change.

In times of dramatic flux, as it forces us into a corner, let's resolve to come out fighting for something new. We must become conscious agents in our own experience, knuckle down and begin earning a living at something meaningful.

The alternative is hardly worth considering.