People conflate "having a job" and "working.” Most people who have a job have it because they need to pay the bills. Most people who actually work do it because they cannot not do it. The word "profession" in Estonian is "elukutse" which literally translates to "life's calling" - which is what work should be all about IMO. Also, people like to define themselves via their job - it's quite widespread in the culture (you meet someone, one of the first things they ask is quite often "what do you do for a living?"). Some people (most people?) haven't truly found themselves so they think what they do is who they are…
Discussion
Society is built so that when you are professional on one thing you get paid well. Thus people are working on the same field for their whole life. I sometimes feel that i would like to do something else, but can't afford lower salary. I need to get my bills under control😜
Yeah the fact that people get "stuck" doing one thing or playing one specific role is a part of it for sure... but even more so, the very fact that the amount of $$$ is paramount in choosing what to do in the first place is rather destructive, or, at the very least, not inducive to personal growth, innovation and new discoveries (both about the person themselves as well as the outside world).
I guess my main point is that in theory, work should be something that you do because you can't not do it, and not because of having to pay the bills, but because of your inner voice, because of the sense of self-fulfillment it brings. You do it because it's a core part of who you are. And it's exactly the same as play - that's something Alan Watts talked about a lot and I wholeheartedly agree.