When Life Meets Career

Why do we not chase risk? When did the reward stop being worth it? When we are young, we are willing to make mistakes because we believe that nothing will fail. Yet when we see failure, we cannot help but shy away from it, expecting the same results. Often it seems to be that the lesson was it was foolish to try, instead of it was foolish to try it the way I did. We treat opportunities as if they are fleeting and one-off. What if they aren’t? I have heard that something is rare if it's one in a million. Well, there are about 330 million people in the United States alone. There are over 31 million seconds in a year. What truly makes today and its opportunities unique to today? While that may seem oversimplified, it is only so when one looks at life being content instead of hungry. When one can say that there is more, then quite simply there is. One aspect or day can be a failure, but the whole journey be a success.

This is not to state that there are not obstacles or impossible situations. It is to say that assuming there are, without trying, is to make them real. On the flip side, saying that they can be, can allow them to be possible. To double back to the time metaphor, we treat it as if there is always more time. This allows us to be content with not having what we want in the moment. That slowly draws from us and allows us to accept the things we shouldn’t. Be it in our careers, personal lives, and the mix of the two, it is easy to neglect the need to grow and achieve because we are content for today. Tomorrow’s problems can be handled tomorrow is a notion often passed around. So, we can be hungry and ignore that pain because it's not destroying us until tomorrow. What if that is what is destroying us? What if not saying I am worth more, I have skills, I desire or have a profession is the true cardinal sin.

I was talking to my colleague the other day and he was expressing how the younger generations see jobs as a source of money, not a source of pride in their professor. A job has become something we do to survive but not often the risk we take to live. So many people have not connected what they do to the meaning they have in their lives. I have to ask, does not a lack of success in one portion affect the other? It has often been discussed how divorce from a partner can ruin someone’s profession. What then when we divorce life and occupation? We spend so much time working to feed a physical hunger, why is the spiritual hunger not fed?

The only way I have found to feed that hunger is when I integrate the parts of my career with my identity. I aid students in their hunt for success by tackling the thing that scares them. That connection to self is the main component that hinders them. Who they are and what they do they want? That hunger cannot be denied and only grows when not slated. What risk must be taken to feed the hunger to identify who we are? To come full circle, why are we willing to risk our happiness, and our existence to be complacent? I think that forsaking life for survival prevents one from actually surviving.

Do forgive me for advertising my services. But if you feel like you needed help finding that occupational thing that should help define you, I can help. What defines me is that I help people look at that risk and see it as a possibility. Thanks for taking the time to read my article. I plan to post more soon on my blog and YouTube channel.