FLASHBACK! KEW Episode 60: The Are vs Should Problem – Jobs and Careers

Do you love your job? Are you happy with your career?

Many of us will answer no to both of these questions.

And it seems to me we visit these questions at two key moments in life:

1. When we leave the nest, usually around 18 years old
2. Sometime in midlife when we wonder how we got there. Maybe between 40 and 50 years old

Lucky for me, I’m almost 50 AND I have daughters who are 18 and 19. So I’m having my own moment and simultaneously and vicariously experiencing my daughters respective moments.

And it’s so messed up.

We put so much pressure on ourselves to balance our happiness with our financial comfort.

We measure safety in dollars.

We reduce possibility by focusing so narrowly on vocation.

And I get it. You gotta have money.

And, to some degree or another, money translates to safety, comfort, and happiness.

But also it doesn’t.

How many people do you know who are truly happy with their job or career AND their personal lives.

It’s like these things have become mutually exclusive.

As I watch my kids struggle with the ‘what do I want to do with my life‘ questions(s) I am saddened.

It’s like they’ve already conceded that their lives are going to suffer because they will pursue a job that makes them feel safe and financially secure.

I can see the sacrifices they have yet to make.

One daughter appears less constrained by the American Dream. More open to discovering her own way. I hope it lasts.

And I wish the other daughter could have a bit more of this . . . . naïveté? Belief? Hope?

Whatever it is, I wish we didn’t do this to our children. To ourselves.

In this Episode I explore why we do these things and hopefully provide some hope that we can do things differently and be more open minded about what makes a good life.

Original post here: https://chrisburcher.com/2021/08/27/kew-episode-60-the-are-vs-should-problem-jobs-and-careers/

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