I've been interviewing people these past few days at work. I sit on one side of the table with my questions. They sit on the other wearing suits and ties (we are not an office of suits and ties.) I see their brains working in overdrive. They wonder how to answer, what to say that will make them desirable. They hope to utter the right words.
When I ask a question, I am not fishing or leading. I want to know a person. I want the truth.
I always ask: what do you really want to do? What is your dream job?
They think they'll be able to say what I want to hear. It takes them a minute of stumbling and worrying to realize I simply want to know. All of them, as it turns out, have dreams that are bigger than a space of 9-5. A stand-up comic. A DJ. A writer.
So, I learn there is a distinction. There are dreams. And there are jobs.
I feel as if we are all being given the impossible task of dreaming elsewhere. That we must get a job. Then live a dream beyond that.
Dreams.
Jobs.
Dreams.
Jobs.
Are we allowed dream jobs?
I think we can have dream jobs. But they won't just fall in our lap. It takes work to get to our dream jobs.
ReplyDeleteAnd then I have a feeling, after our dream job actually becomes our job, the way we have to support ourselves, it might become a little less dreamy. :)
During the whole of my childhood, I only had two dream jobs: being a teacher and being a writer -- and of the two, only being a teacher seemed feasible.
ReplyDeleteSo that's what I studied. That's what I became. It was hard work - and it still is.
Twenty years later, I realized my dream of being a writer. It was a thrill and then a disappointment, and then a dream-killer, and then a wild, thrilling dream again. And then it became work, because it is not easy.
Today I have both my dream jobs. They drain me and lift me up. One supports my family with income -- and one does not (yet). They are both rewarding in some moments and soul-killing in others. I suppose this is life.
We are on the same wavelength this week! I just turned down a full-time salaried job doing something I know and am good at for a life I would love more, and will hopefully lead to my dream my job in time.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think it's possible to have a dream job, but it's like Kelley Lynn said - they don't just fall into our laps. And there are usually sacrifices to be made along the way (long hours, low pay, doubt if you're doing the right thing, etc), but I think it's all worth it. Even the pursuit of my dream makes me happy because I know I'm doing the right thing.
ReplyDeleteThere are dream jobs, and then there are dream jobs that you can live off of. I wish it was easier for everyone to have the latter!
ReplyDeleteMy mom seemed to always seemed to indicate that we were such a spoiled society. She'd say most people just have to work hard and get a job to provide. I mean, what child says he/she wants to grow up to be a garbage collector? I'm looking out our road at men spraying weed killer on the side of the road. Who wants to change sheets all day? Wash dishes for minimum wage? But for all the crappy jobs I've had I always hoped for more - to do something I really loved. Sometimes it's luck. Most times hard work to get that dream. I look at children in 3rd world countries who will never get my chances or opportunities. It's kind of hard to wrap my head around the unfairness of that.
ReplyDelete"I feel as if we are all being given the impossible task of dreaming elsewhere."
ReplyDeleteLove it. :)