Actually Living or Just 'Being?'

scookiemonster

I am a teacher. Teaching is my passion and my calling - no question. I work hard and put in long hours - I spend my summers taking professional development classes, and I can often be found late at night researching lesson ideas or making powerpoints. However, I truly believe that as long as I am doing what I love, I never really feel like I'm working. I think there's a difference between putting in a lot of effort into something and it feeling like work. Feeling like work, to me, is feeling it's something you have to do even though you don't want to, feeling like drudgery, like you drag through the day. The only time I have felt like that was the two years I was transferred from teaching high school to teaching middle school. High school is my passion. Middle school just paid the bills. I am always putting a lot of effort into what I do, and it can be exhausting, but the only time it has really felt like a "job" to me were those two years. The rest of the time, it just feels like I'm doing what I love.

BerryH

I took a 50% pay cut to take on my dream job. While I now never wake up in the morning dreading going to work, when I struggle to get by at the end of every month, it can feel a bit like "being" all over again. Be careful what you wish for.

wolverine66

Are you doing what you were 'born to do' in your current profession and truly loving it or is it something to just get the bills paid?

If you've found what you were 'meant' to do in life, how'd you find it?

If not, do you believe it is just a bunch of hogwash? In other words, do you believe there is some truth to the saying that if you find what you were 'meant to do,' you never work a day in your life?

I like my job. I think I'm good at it, but it's not my passion.

It is something that I use to get my bills paid and it allows me to engage in my true passions: support my family, spend time with my them, play music with my friends, and paint. So, maybe I was "born to" be a dad, or be a mediocre acoustic guitar player/singer, or a decent sports artist. My job gives me the income, and the time, for those things I am truly passionate about.

oregonzoo

I am 34. I am not dong what I'm passionate about. And I might never.
Because honest to goodness I don't know what that would be, other than my family.

And if I *did* have a passion for something, I'd hate for that passion to be spoiled once it became mundane.

amandapye78

I think in this day and time people should be happy and thrilled to have a job that pays enough to get by. I like my job (mainly because I work with my 2 best friends now and we are the only ones in the office) but its certainly not my passion but I need money to fund my passion so it works for me.

silvergurl518

work-wise, i feel like i'm "being" more than "living." but i don't depend on work for happiness, and i've never been driven by the motivation some get from their work lives. for me, my happiness stems directly from interpersonal relationships--with family, friends, myself, significant other (if applicable).

my being sober for almost 6 years after a short-lived but destructive path with alcohol abuse has shown me the true meaning of gratitude.

bcattoes

I like my job. It's interesting work and helps others. But I would not say I've never worked a day in my life. There are days that it feels like drudgery. Days I’d rather be doing something else. And should I win the lottery, I'd be out of here in a heartbeat. My life is outside my job. But as jobs go, I feel I’m quite lucky to be paid well to do something I enjoy.

I did not train initially for the work I do now, nor would I have thought I’d enjoy it had you asked the younger me. I just seem to have an aptitude for it and was lucky enough to work for a company that encourages and promotes based on ability, even when it’s outside an individual’s formal training.

ron2e

I totally agree!. I knew what I wanted to do at age 18 but for a number of reasons it didn't happen. It remained an aspiration even while I worked in a totally unrelated job, which I sort of enjoyed and ended up in a fairly senior management position, until I was made redundant at age 40 and retrained as a computer programmer. Immediately I knew I had found my vocation and with 25 years under my belt now, I never tire of it or fail to get pleasure from it every working day. I consider myself exceptionally lucky.

MiawMiawMiaw

I think I'm doing what I'm meant to be doing. From the age of 5 years old I always wanted to be a Veterinary Surgeon and now 19 year later I'm about to start final year at the Royal Veterinary College

It's been ridiculously difficult and I'm not there yet, one year to go and then to find a job!

pennydreadful270

Living on the weekends. I'd like to try, just once, a job that actually engages my brain - but that does not seem to be a high commodity on the market.

KombuchaCat

I enjoy my job. I like the work, they treat me well, I make decent money, and my co-workers are some of my best friends. I've been there 12 years and will probably be there until I retire. That being said, it's just a job to me, not any deep seated passion. I'm not sure what that would be. I work to pay the bills, and to pay for all my extracurricular activities, which are many.

This would be me, it's not a passion but it's pays the bills and my husband and I can do what we like with our personal lives. I get along with everyone and the company is alright. That's more than some people have and it's OK with me.

trailtripper

Your life purpose is such a deep passion that it can be fulfilled in many ways - a job is just one way. But if you lost that job your purpose is still there waiting for you to find another way to fulfill it.


I feel like mine is constantly evolving.

^This^
I was in the army for 21 years (combat Infantry) Love the army. Loved what we did and loved training our war fighters to be the absolute best they could be! But, it wore my body out and had to retire.
Went to school and majored in computer science. Worked for one company when I graduated and just did not enjoy life that much. After 10 years in the commericial world I applied for and got excepted working for the government at an army hosipital (information managemet). THe pay is not as well as when I worked the civilian market , but the job satisfaction is through the roof.
I now feel like I have found apassion again. I get to see the outcomes of our work whenever I am contact with our recovering soldiers and their families.
Sometimes there heartbreaks as the soldiers do not fully recover from their injuries or they expire but even then it is a closure of sorts.
I go to bed each and ever night and praying to God, knowing that what I am doing REALLY matters to someone that day.

JaneDough_

I work to live, not live to work. That being said I truly enjoy what I do for a living. I knew that is what I wanted to do so I am happy with my career choice although a lot of the time I want to explore other routes and do other stuff but it's mostly because I enjoy experiencing new things.

Illona88

I have wanted to be a writer all my life. As soon as I could read&write, I started writing stories and even before then I told my Mom a story before bedtime.

I now work part time (like two days a week) as a copywriter for a big media company to pay most of the bills. The rest of the time I work as a travel blogger, mental health blogger and as a novelist.

And I am proud to say I only graduated University 5 months ago .

kendrafallon

I'm not happy doing what I'm doing - a data analyst for the NHS. So I'm doing something about it, instead of generating the stats on how services within the NHS are doing, I'm working on becoming someone who actually works with patients doing something about their health

ItsCasey

Born to do? Maybe in the sense that I'm good at it. Do I love it? Not at all. I like my boss and the people I work with, and it's a great job, but I can't say I look forward to going to work and preparing balance sheets and income statements or analyzing bond yields.

But I'm not sure I'd want to take something I love to do and try to turn it into a career. I think I'd slowly grow to hate it. I can leave accounting and financial analysis at the office when I leave every day (well, most days). Something I love to do? It would follow me around all the time, and I'd come to associate it with work and money and bills. I don't think I'd ever be able to relax.

carbons2k

Lately I feel like im just being....

Sox90716

I'm a deputy sheriff/investigator. This has always been my dream job. I've been doing it for over 24 years and absolutely love it!

EmilyOfTheSun

"Find a job that you love and you'll never work a day in your life." I truly believe that, hopefully I'll be at that point someday in my life. I need to get my *kitten* to school.

Right now my job just pays the bills. I run the billing department for a plumbing company. I make decent money and if I stayed here forever, I could probably make a lot of money. It's not what I want to do though, no little kid dreams of growing up and working in the billing department....

I'd love to do something with animals, training or some sort of rehabilitation for dogs that were abused. Or a job that would keep me in the woods all day long.

conniemaxwell5

I don't think my "meant to be" has anything to do with my job. I am meant to be a loving and giving friend, mother and wife. That's who I am and what is most important to me. My work suits me but I can't say that I'm passionate about it and it isn't who I am.