End of the Career Era? / Investment
In the environment I was raised in, it seems like kids were primed to think about careers, not jobs, from an early age. We were always asked, "What do you want to BE when you grow up?", not "What job do you want to have?" I'm assuming that most kids in the same or similar socio-economic class experienced the same thing. As a kid, all the adults I knew had some career or other. So did most people (and this is still the case) portrayed in the media. Although "what I wanted to be when I grew up" would change every few years, I always assumed I would have some career or another.
But now I'm an adult and I have no idea what my career, if any, is supposed to be. And I'm surprised to find that most people my age are in a similar position. I know very few people in their 20's who have careers as opposed to jobs. Maybe, like marriage, careers are just something that our generation is going to get into later in life. However, the era of working for the same company for 40 years is clearly over. I wonder if the era of lifetime careers could also be ending.
Up until the last few years, I always assumed that like I would have a career, I would eventually find some man to marry. Now, I've realized that my assumption about marriage wasn't necessarily my own desire, but something straight women were "supposed" to do. I've accepted the fact that since there are so few people I'm attracted to, it's unlikely that I'll ever get married. I don't find this especially depressing. However, I find the prospect of life without a career to be very dismal. And I can't untangle my own desires from the social pressure to have some certain kind of career. I'm fine without a man but I do feel insufficient without a career. The latter claim is even more obscure than the former. I think "careers are the new men" must have been what Carrie was typing in some lost episode of "Sex and the City". All I know is that like a marriage, I'd rather have no career than one that wouldn't work for me.
Which is a fitting segue into the second part of all this, which is the process of "investment" in careers. I'm at the point where in order to get a real career, I'd have to invest a lot more than I already have. I've already invested in a few different careers-- theatre, or whatever other diffuse tasks a liberal arts school prepared me for, the non-profit sector and volunteer management specifically, and the music business/recording. These investments were at different levels, however, none of them yielded the results I really wanted. I think I've proved that even without a career, I can still use my brain, help people to some extent, and be creative. Maybe that should be enough, but like I said, for me, career dreams seem to be the hardest ones to contemplate giving up. Anyway, I'm not sure what else, if anything, I should take the chance of investing in. In this economic situation, it's not like I can easily "try out" different careers to see which one I want to pursue further.
And if you read this whole thing, go you! :-)
But now I'm an adult and I have no idea what my career, if any, is supposed to be. And I'm surprised to find that most people my age are in a similar position. I know very few people in their 20's who have careers as opposed to jobs. Maybe, like marriage, careers are just something that our generation is going to get into later in life. However, the era of working for the same company for 40 years is clearly over. I wonder if the era of lifetime careers could also be ending.
Up until the last few years, I always assumed that like I would have a career, I would eventually find some man to marry. Now, I've realized that my assumption about marriage wasn't necessarily my own desire, but something straight women were "supposed" to do. I've accepted the fact that since there are so few people I'm attracted to, it's unlikely that I'll ever get married. I don't find this especially depressing. However, I find the prospect of life without a career to be very dismal. And I can't untangle my own desires from the social pressure to have some certain kind of career. I'm fine without a man but I do feel insufficient without a career. The latter claim is even more obscure than the former. I think "careers are the new men" must have been what Carrie was typing in some lost episode of "Sex and the City". All I know is that like a marriage, I'd rather have no career than one that wouldn't work for me.
Which is a fitting segue into the second part of all this, which is the process of "investment" in careers. I'm at the point where in order to get a real career, I'd have to invest a lot more than I already have. I've already invested in a few different careers-- theatre, or whatever other diffuse tasks a liberal arts school prepared me for, the non-profit sector and volunteer management specifically, and the music business/recording. These investments were at different levels, however, none of them yielded the results I really wanted. I think I've proved that even without a career, I can still use my brain, help people to some extent, and be creative. Maybe that should be enough, but like I said, for me, career dreams seem to be the hardest ones to contemplate giving up. Anyway, I'm not sure what else, if anything, I should take the chance of investing in. In this economic situation, it's not like I can easily "try out" different careers to see which one I want to pursue further.
And if you read this whole thing, go you! :-)