I am who I am first and foremost… I am also a student, a writer, an artist, a baker, an amatuer gardener, a teacher, a healer, a spiritual person, a knitter, a creator of my own life. I also have so much exploring to do and so much learning that it will take me a few lifetimes to learn it all.

I think it is crazy that we expect people to choose one profession, study for it, work at it for 40 years, keep our fingers crossed for a decent pension/social security, and then retire to do the fun things we never did while we were young. I could never understand that logic and I am glad that I didn’t.

Summary of themes of this essay:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Without_Principle

After reading this work, my attitude changed from “career building” to “freedom acquisition”. Freedom from working at a job in order to buy junk that I don’t need (expensive houses, status-advertising automobiles), freedom from worry (”how will I pay for all this junk … I guess I’ll have to put in more hours for The Man”), freedom from ladder-climbing stress, and simply the freedom to sit back and watch, with bemused sadness, as others labor in chains for the very things that I have cast off.

One of the important things that I take from Thoreau is that the true “work” of one’s life is not work in the commonly-assumed sense of “labor for money”. That’s just one of the things that we must do, preferably in some relatively pleasant but non-life-consuming occupation, in order to provide at least a minimum of support for pursuing our true work of self-perfection. Whatever defines self-perfection for you is yours alone to decide. Perhaps it’s mastering the sax. Perhaps it’s travel and experiencing/comprehending/internalizing the cultures of the world. Perhaps, as for Thoreau, it’s immersing oneself in nature, studying it and reveling in it.
Up to you.

Those of you who think that is a small difference in life are wrong, very wrong. Just take someone that has spent a few decades being in charge of a class and sit them down in a hard but menial labor job and see what happens to them. There is more of a difference than is dreamt of on “self-help” shows or 30 second opinions. It will make a big difference in everything from where you work to what you eat to your schedule to your choices of spouse (and this doesn’t even address what you’ll go through in the social caste system that is everywhere or how your family sees you or what you’ll do if they decide “disown” you, it’s amazing to me how important your job is to others, it can be more important than you are- or at least that’s the way it feels).

Someday, I want to write and cook and enjoy being a wife and mother in a society that has asked since I was three, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and has no time or willingness to hear something other than a career.

Thanks for letting me know that while I’m working that crappy job that has nothing to do with who I am or what I want, I’m not alone.

I’ve also had a lot of interests and talents, which is maybe why I’ve had a hard time finding my niche until recently. I started as a jazz major (on sax), but after having to withdraw and re-enter college I ended up with a degree in classical studies (mostly focusing on Latin) and Spanish linguistics, with minors in foreign language education and linguistics. After that, I started writing online about style, fashion, saving money, and other topics that really only became interesting to me since graduating. I also started taking performance jazz and singing classes at a local college.

Because I’m working on so many different projects that are hard to describe to the non-tech savvy and maybe also because I’m a stay-at-home wife who’s not what I’d call a housewife, I have a hard time describing myself by what I do. Unfortunately for me, though that seems to be the preferred small talk when getting to know people. When I tell people, it usually ends up with, “Must be great not having to work” or “So what do you do [i.e. for a living -- as if I didn't just tell them]?”

In the end, I’m just me — and that works for me. Fortunately, my husband doesn’t really seem to care what I do, so long as it works for me (in that he does care and is very supportive). My husband loves me for me and not what I do — though he also loves and appreciates how I do stuff, too.

By the way, I’m very interested in the process of things, so that why I love the quote you mentioned from the film.

Another way to look at this is the difference between career and calling. Your career can enable or finance your calling, which might bring in very little income by itself but have a lot of significance.

Being a teacher is a perfect example of a calling. It carries a lot of significance (thousands of students molded by your teaching) but a relatively low salary.

After the intense competition to be accepted into my graduate program, all of those days I spent painting and drawing, and all of the money I spent on degrees, I never once thought it would lead to sitting in front of a computer all day for 8 hours. Some mornings it’s all I can do to just drag myself in here.

I work at our church watching the kids during services. That seems to define me much more in 2 hours than 40 hours during the rest of the week at my regular job.

I get outdoors a lot and play with my kid…that defines me even more.

My job is income. My skills help people, and I like helping my friends who need tech help so they don’t get ripped off, but it doesn’t define me at all.

Unlike you, I never knew what I was good at. I did well in nearly every subject in school (except algebra), took advanced placement and accelerated classes, and yet had no idea what I wanted to do with myself. I played the piano and sang it the choir, but wasn’t a stand out. At 5′10″ you’d think I would be a natural basketball or volleyball player, but I was rather clumsy and awkward. I was great at debate, but didn’t know what to do with that either. I sailed through most of my undergrad and master’s coursework, but nothing ever made me feel “alive”.

So, I work a job that I very much enjoy, but is not a “passion.” I’m good at it. I have a talent for seeing the big picture and thinking strategically, and I hope that I continue to learn and grow into a formal leadership position at or another financial services firm. I care about climbing the ladder and (I’m ashamed to say) all of the politics associated with that.

I am defined, in large part, by my title and salary, and I’m ok with it, but I have to admit that the work isn’t satisfying in a way I would imagine finding a “true calling” would be. I find solace in the fact that I can use my talents and connections in my non-profit work – making a difference in my community through the agencies to which I provide leadership, and for now that has to be enough.

Hopefully, I’ll figure out “what I want to be when I grow up” somewhere along the way.

Hmm. I wonder if great business leaders always knew that they wanted to be at the helm of a firm, or if it’s the kind of thing that just happens as one tries to find their true calling?

Thanks for your post.