Does Your Job Make You Happy?
I ask this question as I also ponder my own new job. I made a decision after my divorce to reevaluation my career and make sure I was doing something that made me happy. I was working as a graphic designer before I made a break to stay home and be a wife and mother. Even during the at-home part of my life I continued to take freelance design jobs.
After my divorce I thought back to when I first entered college with the idea of becoming a teacher. I had two professors who talked me out of that particular path, which subsequently led to a career in media, publishing, PR and other exciting lines of work. Still, I kept thinking how cool it would be to work with kids.
I also thought a lot about my friend who became a Chicago accident attorney, only to abandon her high-paying job to pursue a life in the Peace Corps. She had years of expensive law school behind her, as well as a very prestigious clerking experience in Philadelphia. All that might have been what she thought she wanted, but it turns out that it did not make her happy. The Peace Corps, on the other hand, DID make her happy and it’s now the life she cheerfully leads.
So now I am working in the public school system. I am exhausted every day when I come home. There are times when the bell rings for one class or another and I find I have been emotionally drained by the students who were in there with me. However, I still feel like this is the life that will bring me happiness. Some of the kids are jaded already, but for the most part they are still in that part of their lives filled with wonderment and possibility. I love being around that.
My current job doesn’t make me happy. It makes me money – good money for our area. It’s vastly below my skill level, so I have no worries about job performance.