In my life I have had many jobs and fewer careers. The jobs always paid less. It’s been said that it is important to find a job that you enjoy, something you love doing, then it’s not so much a job anymore. Contrary to the actual definition, for me, the difference between a job and a career should be simply a commitment to do the job you love and to grow in it. If you love it and choose it as your pathway then it is your profession, your career. If the purpose of a job is to make money, is the purpose of a career just to make more money?

When the current job market situation hit, I found myself out of work and unable to go back to what I used to do. I’ve had to find a new career and I don’t think I like it very much. It is work. I’m not terrible at it. In fact, over time, I’ll probably be great at it. It’s not excruciating, but it definitely isn’t fun. Lately I’ve been looking into studying to advance in this profession. I’d like to earn more and this is the way to do it. If not, I have to commit to getting paid at this level or find another profession and risk getting paid even less, at least in the beginning.

All things are temporary, even life. I don’t want to do this work forever but I really don’t know what I want to do instead. For some people it’s easy to find what you want to do for a living. Not for me. I have never known what I am supposed to do so I work to excel at whatever is in front of me until some new and more appealing opportunity comes up. I’m doing that now and I guess I’ll keep doing it until I can figure out what else I’m supposed to do. Grow or die. It’s just that this supposed career feels much more like a job and I would really prefer to do something I actually enjoy. Then again, maybe if I made six figures a year, I could learn to love the paycheck instead.