I have always struggled with knowing just what I wanted to do with my life. Even to this day I think to myself; what do I want to do when I grow up?

As children we are often asked “what do we want to do” when we become adults? We usually say what appeals to our thoughts, and our limited experience of what we know about that career. But how is it that some people know just what they are interested in, and what they want to become. I am amazed by the clarity of these individuals, as I was never able to have a luminous picture of my calling in life.
I think for the most part I have always known about “how” I was going to be, but “what” I was going to do is a completely different question. Dr. Wayne Dyer puts it…”Don’t equate your self-worth with how well you do things in life. You aren’t what you do. If you are what you do, then when you don’t…you aren’t”. Somewhere down the line we become a part of a society that places the value of working over the value of just what our work should be. If you are able to distinguish the significance in both of these reasons, then you know that they are relative to the state of the economy and the meanings are subject to change depending on the perspective.

I have much respect for hard working folks. I come from a working class family, and see much value in doing an honest day’s work. The America today, is quite different now than how the millions of former immigrants used to see our country. They came to a country where anyone who worked hard, and applied themselves, could start up a business and become successful. They could break out from the class they were once in, and live a life never before possible in other parts of the world. Today, I think many come to this country and argue that they still receive a better life even without having to work due to the entitlements we are giving out in our welfare state. Personally I think that working hard in a laborious job is requisite in becoming a well rounded individual.

Professionally speaking I think many of us choose a career that is not an ideal match to our personality, or that we did not want to give up the benefits and compensation that many careers offer. Unfortunately in many cases these jobs are not meeting all of our needs, let’s face it: they are boring, unexciting, and just plain making us unhappy.
Of course not all of us can simply choose a career we fancy. Unemployment figures speak volumes, and the types of work we each must seek to keep ourselves fed and clothed is testament to just what choices we do have despite whether or not that dream job ever materializes.
The sacrifices we make for the family, for our personal lifestyles, is an often overlooked subject matter but on a contrary disconcerting note; people also tend to immerse themselves into their work to a degree that recounts the adage; live to work, and not work to live. This is another topic altogether and I shall not give it any further thought other than to exclaim that these problems may just be the pastime articulations of prior generations. In a post global-economic world we now face a new set of employment quandaries. The idea that we have choices in our employment is under greater scrutiny in many parts of the world. We face forces at work that are destructive to the potential economies of many countries. The “powers that be” do not want to give up the status quo. I saw some frightening information that my studies have elucidated and I am fearful of their implications. It was not my intent to discuss the ills of our monetary system, and the corruption of our market systems worldwide; I started this discourse by suggesting that there is enough difficulty in making that personal decision on how one should economically support oneself in this life, and more precisely, how one should pursue a lifestyle that promotes one’s interests, and simultaneously be compensated for it.

Many things we take for granted in this life, but at times we may ask ourselves and wonder about how our prior dreams might have come to fruition. Maybe we are thinking back and wondering had we gone in a different direction, how would our lives been changed. Of course there are many people who are quite satisfied with the outcomes of their career choice and are quite happy. This is truly a blessing. Grievously in today’s world there is uncertainty. The choices of one’s occupation may continue to dwindle and become extinguished. The idea that our culture can provide satisfying employment for us is being questioned and is cause for many heated debates.
I have witnessed many conversations on how individuals have elected their decisions. Many have chosen the career based on income potentials alone. Many have just fallen into their careers by default, be it a school job turned full time endeavor, or for lack of any other alternative choice available, therefore their part-time job became their full-time career. However one may choose their calling, I must admit that in this age, no matter how one chooses, or what one chooses, it is good to be employed.

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