Gratitude Challenge Day 12: Work

I remember an elderly fellow I met when I was in college at Ohio University. He said “the most interesting people I know still don’t know what they want to be when they grow up.” That sentiment has always heartened me because I’m not one to equate a job with my life’s work. I envy the folks for whom that venn diagram is an overlapping circle. My Dad was like that. Helping people walk again, giving them a new lease on life, repairing injuries, healing–this was both his job and his work and he was very good at it. My kiddo has found that place where her job and her work at the library are one and she too is excellent at it.

I think that’s a special kind of magic, but I don’t think folks who don’t have that should be disheartened. Sometimes jobs are what help us afford to do our work and that’s nothing to be ashamed or upset by. And sometimes there can be some overlap with our jobs and our work, even if it’s not 100%. For those who are retired, their jobs might have ended, but the work does not.

I’m not sure if any of you have taken personality quizzes. There are many different kinds and I consistently get labeled “an idealist.” Being a creative and a dreamer and an idealist makes navigating this world exceptionally challenging because it falls so very short. But the upside, there’s no end to the work. Ha! I’m grateful for the work that calls me to imagine and create, to welcome and comfort.

When you sit down to think about it, what is the work that calls your soul?