庐山烟雨浙江潮 未至千般恨不消 - 苏轼

There is this famous Chinese poem by the Song Dynasty poet 苏轼 (also known as 苏东坡) that is used by people to advise others that many "dream" careers or jobs / positions, are merely that, a job / career. Before we achieved that position or career posting, they may look extremely desirable that is worth all efforts and time, but once we reached that goal, we would have realised it is nothing so special.

My poor attempt of translating the poem would be:

The first sentence, "Amidst the Lushan rain / mist and the Zhejiang tide" describes an ideal scenery, and everyone dreamed to see it at any cost. Before seeing this scenery, the heart is full of yearning and expectation, and we would try every means to pursue and realise it. Once seen, one would feel that it is nothing special (i.e. 别无事). The misty rain is still the misty rain, and the wonderous tide is still just a tide.

Here's the actual poem in Chinese

庐山烟雨浙江潮，未至千般恨不消。

到得还来别无事，庐山烟雨浙江潮。

I've read two different background of why 苏东坡 wrote this poem - one stated that it was his poem written for his son who was leaving to start an official career (government post which is a desirable job in the past). Another version stated that it was his gift for a monastery when an old monk asked him for a poem. The latter could be a refence of how this poem also described a very Zen (禅) view of life / career. Seems like the poet passed away not too long after he wrote this poem.

This poem is beautiful because the first and last sentence (庐山烟雨浙江潮) are the same, and yet so aptly position to precisely point out that the scenery, i.e. referencing that dream career, is just a scenery, i.e. a career like any other. I guess this poem resonates well with a lot of mid-career / middle aged people.

Also see: 花开堪折直须折 莫待无花空折枝