“The jobs I really loved only served to put me in debt.”
“I made a lot of money, but it just about killed my soul; lost my marriage, and I’m just now getting re‑connected with my kids.”
‘Well, it pays for health insurance, and keeps a roof over my head. But that’s about it.”
“You don’t have to put up with that treatment! Just quit! You can do better than that; tell the jerk to shove it!”
“It’s my ministry; I feel called to it, no matter what.”
These are direct quotes from friends and co‑workers, and I’m sure you could add to the list. I’ve watched people stay too long at a job and become deeply cynical. Others left good positions impulsively, jumped out of the frying pan only to be burned badly in the fire.
Personally, I remember hours spent taking personality inventories, envying people who seemed to be so satisfied making lots of money. I envied others who just seemed to be having fun with their careers. Certainly I was more fortunate than many: I had several periods when my work was fulfilling, but changes in management, market conditions or personal requirements could dash my utopia to the ground. To this day, I can still be disturbed to see people in libraries poring over the jobs sections in the classifieds, taking notes, reading books about resumé persuasiveness; it’s painful for me to remember those times. I’m not sure I have learned much from all this.
What I (and some friends) may have learned seems to be a reflection of other chapters on this site: it was our inordinate demands that got us into hot water. On the one hand, we approached work almost as a religion, expecting it to give us a deep sense of worth. On the other hand, many of us had also been seduced by materialism, grasping for luxuries of various kinds. Between the two demands, we (or I, for certain) could seldom live with balance, seldom hear our inner Muse guiding its, value the moment for the richness that had been given us in grace.
My prayer is that anyone reading this can take a step back from the expectations they may bring to their work, and move toward viewing it as we must view all of life: without attachment (clinging or aversion), with compassion and patience and gentle gratitude.
All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.
Aristotle
All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
Ecclesiastes 1:8
Much heartbreak and many self-help books address career choice. We expect more from our work than ever before in human history, and so many are disappointed.