twentysomething job

“TO THE JOBS THAT PAY THE RENT!!!” four friends toasted to this statement in one of the scenes from “the Devil wears Prada”. I actually caught myself muttering the same thing after them. At this point in my life, the mid-twenties, am I where I am supposed to be? And am I headed in the right direction?

I had grand dreams of producing music videos & shooting commercials. In a funny twist of fate, I actually starred in a music video for a friend’s music video proposal & assist in the making of 2 TV commercials. Not the exact place where I wanted to be, but close enough.

For the past years, me & my friends have been contemplating on the jobs that we go into. Looking back, I rarely see people in the jobs that they thought they’d end up in. Take my sister for example, an English-Lit graduate. Writes the wittiest articles I have ever read. She is a born stage performer in the realm of dance. And yet, is happily serving as an executive assistant for a pastor in her fellowship. One of my best friends is an Occupational Therapy graduate. He holds the possibility of earning lots of dollars enough to firmly establish himself abroad, just like what his nurse-sister is doing. But with a natural flair for sports & creativity, stumbled upon a coaching job for ice skating and has been doing it for the past 5 years. Me, I have actually been a jack-of-all-trades type of guy. When I meet people & they ask me what I do, they are surprised that I have a myriad of odd jobs. I never imagined I’d become an event host, a photographer, an ice skating choreographer/spinning instructor, a purchasing officer for a ship chandelling company or a call center quality control officer. Many people thought I should be a comedian, be in theatre or on TV. Hasn’t happened yet, hehe.

There are two paths when it comes to careers. The happy & the responsible. I am not claiming however that choosing one would mean the lack of the other. The percentage of each aspect varies with each choice though. And at any age, the choice will change. Some people choose to get a job, any job, at the start of their adult life. To be the responsible one & propel themselves with their own wings. Others find themselves in a job that is like play. Most of these, however, pay like play money too. A select few pay their dues before they move on to the targeted job. For a while that’s how it stays.

And in time, the change of heart commences. People shift from the happy job to the more responsible one. It is brought along by different factors, but mostly because of the want for a better life. Creature comforts. And usually, it brings forth a dragging sensation to the person. It is literally a job. Most of the time, one chants that it’s worth the money… sad. An end to justify the means. And when a person takes on a responsible job first, they burn out quicker; thus, the need to move onto greener pastures (aka happy), even if that pasture is the only thing that there is and nothing more, just pasture that’s greener.

Restless creatures that we are, even the happiest jobs seem to wear us down. I guess I’m just airing out the idea that everyone wants more out of anything. A promotion. Better benefits. Lesser travels. More personal time. At the end of the day, is the job or a career that defines who we are & what we’ve done with our lives? Do we want to live up to the point that our jobs are our life?

For me, life comes first. A job supports us to live the life that we want. But it is us ultimately, that makes the choice if our work becomes our life, or it is our life that we work for to make it better