Feeling good without a job

It's funny how life turns out some days. I was chatting to someone today about me not having a job. For some time now I've had a sense that perhaps I'm not as good as I thought I was and this was affecting how I felt about myself. The conversation was both timely and welcome.

One of the themes that came out of the conversation was the way society demands that we have a career. It's almost unwritten law that if we don't have a job we don't have social status. I've been feeling this a lot lately. It's even more subtle than the job-no job debate. I detect that some people place a person on a social hierarchy dependent on their job. For example, a doctor may rate highly whereas a garbage collector may rate fairly low. Why can't people simply accept one another on the basis of the human being that's before them, rather than on their appearance or job title?

Then there's the money thing. It seems to me that the more money you make, the more some people value your opinions and the higher up their pop-chart you get. Again, it's a shallow form of humanity.

From this societal expectation, it's easy to feel unwanted, unworthy, and unnoticed. At least that's the way I've been feeling. That is until my conversation. From it I took away that life is not about the work we do - although that can be an important way to generate some self esteem and provide structure for our lives. Life is all about the contribution we make.

Contribution comes in so many skins. I volunteer as a way to give back, and in the process I derive a sense of satisfaction and well being. Some people raise families and spend time with their children. Of all the work we could ever undertake, this one pays the least, but probably has the highest rewards.

From today's conversation I've formed a renewed sense of being comfortable with where my career is at and am feeling a sense of my own centre that doesn't rely on a job description or pay cheque.