The word "Work"

“Work”. That one word can do many things for someone. It can be the worst part of a person’s day. Making a person dream of when their place of work is over and cannot wait for them to come back to their home and escape it. Then there are those who enjoy the word “work”, exiting them for their professional career. Finding one’s true passion in a career happens not often enough. Many say that if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. Finding your path and going through the proper career development, it allows one to not cringe at the word “work”. But what it does is allow the word “work” to bring excitement to one’s life and a feeling of fulfillment.

According to Brown (Brown, 2012, p. 17), one of the primary reasons for people to work is money. Paying, “essential and nonessential goods and services”. But Brown goes on to say that work is more than just fulfilling an economic need it is also to sustain life (2012). I believe that with the proper career development, one can find the meaning of work beyond just the financial benefit. By looking at work in the terms of a need for sustaining life, it becomes a part of the person who is working. But, without the proper career development and career interventions that can benefit someone into having a successful but fulfilling career, work is nothing more than just a way to put food out on the table.

When I battled within myself of what I wanted to do, I was frightened of what I may choose. It is dangerous to keep all the thoughts in one’s mine just to themselves. I found myself in that exact situation. But I was lucky to have guidance along the way. I have talked about my advisors at school as the people who benefitted me in finding my career, but I owe a lot to my Aunt Kathleen. My Aunt Kathleen works for the PASSHE as the Deputy Vice Chancellor. I came to her after switching majors and said to her over lunch, “I need help”. She asked me what I wanted to do, I told her school counseling, and thought she would judge me. I was going from a major that I had grown up thinking would make me financially wealthy, to a career that did not. She smiled, telling me that it is not all about the financial benefit, but it is most important for the person working that job to be happy.

I sit here almost a year later from that lunch meeting in awe. Reading this first chapter allowed me to see what my Aunt Kathleen was telling me. There is more to work that just the financial gain. But there is also so much more than finding your career and being happy with. The development and interventions that can help a person grow is remarkable. Brown states that this book is to show that career interventions are “simpler to understand and easier to apply” (Brown, 2012, p. 20). With these tools, we are able to go towards the path of self-fulfillment, dignity social equity, and self-esteem (2012). We can find ways to not make the word “work” be a horrible word. Rather, “work” can become one of the best words to hear during our days, and having a healthy and fulfilling future.

Resources

Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career development, 10, New York: Pearson.