What was your life supposed to be
Like most children I was asked what I was going to do with my life. Adults who should have already known the idiocy of this question based on their own experience always wanted to know what I was going to be. As in what job are you going to do.
Fancy life careers
I liked to tell adults that I wanted to be a pediatrician. I probably had little idea of what that entailed except that they were doctors who took care of children. The answer was accepted because if sounded like a successful career choice. In reality, I can’t stand taking care of anyone outside of my family members and would be a terrible doctor. I like to sleep regularly. Worrying about the health of a lot of kids would eventually harm my health.
Life jobs
We like to think of the possibility of having careers but most of us just have jobs. Having a job I like is a bonus. but it is not who I am. My employment gives me the chance to do tasks I like to do in service to others and it satisfies me financially. Most college students struggle with the career choice thought endlessly. I can’t imagine how we should expect young people to be able to make that decision. Who I really am is a whole different kettle of fish. I have dozens of titles that stand for the different roles I play in life.
Maybe I just live
I rarely describe myself by my job title and try not to ask others to describe themselves primarily by their choice of work. Broadening this thought about myself makes it much easier for me not to think of others just by a job description. I am very sure that if my workplace would describe positions by the personal characteristics needed by the applicant as well as the technical considerations, they would get a more well-rounded candidate. As for that question we ask children, let’s change it from what do you want to do when you grow up to what kind of person do you want to be. If we had an idea of those thoughts, we could get into some deeper conversations and help create those well-rounded candidates that would have a more profound impact on everyone’s world.
Does anyone ever know as a child what job they want to pursue when they grow up? Why is the struggle to find meaningful life work continue into adulthood? Who do I want to be today?
