It's always such a pleasure to read your essays; this was particularly interesting! I loved the Berlin insight on this too XD I did meet someone who insisted on asking 'what do you do for living, not for working. What do you do outside those 8 hours' and I just started my first job and didn't know what to answer. Now, I know why I still work in the same place, and I would love to go back in time and explain how my higher sense of purpose spills into community and status work, working in healthcare/government based organisation is fulfilling as much as my creative time.
Wow, this resonates! I really love point #5 — Actively build your safety net beyond your job – in your community, your creativity, and your sense of purpose. I’ve so neglected these other concepts of ‘safety net’ since becoming ‘secure’ in my career, and my life is really starting to reveal that to me. Thanks for this essay.
I find this post insightful and relatable. I’be written a lot about how my relationship with work has changed since moving from the US to Europe as someone who loves their job and identifies deeply with it. I spent my whole sabbatical year crippled by the anxiety of not working that I found it difficult to be present and now that I’m expending a lot of energy rebuilding my career I long for the days where I had nothing to do and no one to meet. Thanks for sharing.
This was brilliant! I especially loved the five guidelines. I’ve definitely placed far too much weight on my career in the past. I’m now trying to find the right balance of creativity, purpose and challenge! Thanks for sharing.
I just had a similar conversation with someone from Canada about how American it is to make conversation based on what you do for work, and how uninteresting/not normalized that is in other places! I really like your framing of creativity and social bonds as work, too--they are, and I think connecting them like this is a helpful way to frame them as just as (probably, more) important than paid work, rather than things that we squeeze in when we can but get abandoned when work work inevitably takes priority. I'm a big proponent that creativity and relationships are essential, not leisurely add-ons to working life
Yes it’s very American - a few summers ago, I spent some time in NYC and so many people I met really grilled me about my work, my goals, why I was in the city 🤣 Europeans on a whole definitely don’t care as much. At the risk of making relationships sounds transactional (which is not my intention), social connections are so critical to get by in life, we forget their value. Thanks for reading, Sophia! 💜
Thank you for writing! I didn't take the way you framed it as transactional, but rather that relationships should be prioritized to the same extent we prioritize paid work, and also that relationships *take* work. Excited to read what's next!
We need to hang out!!! The whole time I was reading this I was just like yes, yes, yes! I agree with everything. I too think the career people choose says a lot about them and am always interested to know what people do. But at the same time I recognize that a career is not the most important thing about a person or in our lives and so we shouldn't prioritize it over investing in friends, family, health, creativity etc. This was so spot-on Caoilainn! Thank you so much for writing it!
Thank you so much, Caroline! I’m glad you, and hopefully more people, agree. I think too many people these days neglect everything else other than their career, which is a disaster waiting to happen. Thanks for sharing 🙏 and PS also wish we could hang out hahahaha
It's always such a pleasure to read your essays; this was particularly interesting! I loved the Berlin insight on this too XD I did meet someone who insisted on asking 'what do you do for living, not for working. What do you do outside those 8 hours' and I just started my first job and didn't know what to answer. Now, I know why I still work in the same place, and I would love to go back in time and explain how my higher sense of purpose spills into community and status work, working in healthcare/government based organisation is fulfilling as much as my creative time.
I kind of love the flipped question! What do you do with YOUR LIFE - career, hobbies, everything ✨ Thanks for reading Barbs 💕
;) I hope you're well, staying cool, and enjoying spring up there
this was excellent, thank you
Wow, this resonates! I really love point #5 — Actively build your safety net beyond your job – in your community, your creativity, and your sense of purpose. I’ve so neglected these other concepts of ‘safety net’ since becoming ‘secure’ in my career, and my life is really starting to reveal that to me. Thanks for this essay.
Thanks so much for reading!
I find this post insightful and relatable. I’be written a lot about how my relationship with work has changed since moving from the US to Europe as someone who loves their job and identifies deeply with it. I spent my whole sabbatical year crippled by the anxiety of not working that I found it difficult to be present and now that I’m expending a lot of energy rebuilding my career I long for the days where I had nothing to do and no one to meet. Thanks for sharing.
This was brilliant! I especially loved the five guidelines. I’ve definitely placed far too much weight on my career in the past. I’m now trying to find the right balance of creativity, purpose and challenge! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading Emma 🩷 Yeah, I don’t look back fondly at times in the past where I didn’t have priorities straight. You live and you learn!
I just had a similar conversation with someone from Canada about how American it is to make conversation based on what you do for work, and how uninteresting/not normalized that is in other places! I really like your framing of creativity and social bonds as work, too--they are, and I think connecting them like this is a helpful way to frame them as just as (probably, more) important than paid work, rather than things that we squeeze in when we can but get abandoned when work work inevitably takes priority. I'm a big proponent that creativity and relationships are essential, not leisurely add-ons to working life
Yes it’s very American - a few summers ago, I spent some time in NYC and so many people I met really grilled me about my work, my goals, why I was in the city 🤣 Europeans on a whole definitely don’t care as much. At the risk of making relationships sounds transactional (which is not my intention), social connections are so critical to get by in life, we forget their value. Thanks for reading, Sophia! 💜
Thank you for writing! I didn't take the way you framed it as transactional, but rather that relationships should be prioritized to the same extent we prioritize paid work, and also that relationships *take* work. Excited to read what's next!
We need to hang out!!! The whole time I was reading this I was just like yes, yes, yes! I agree with everything. I too think the career people choose says a lot about them and am always interested to know what people do. But at the same time I recognize that a career is not the most important thing about a person or in our lives and so we shouldn't prioritize it over investing in friends, family, health, creativity etc. This was so spot-on Caoilainn! Thank you so much for writing it!
Thank you so much, Caroline! I’m glad you, and hopefully more people, agree. I think too many people these days neglect everything else other than their career, which is a disaster waiting to happen. Thanks for sharing 🙏 and PS also wish we could hang out hahahaha
Excellently reading! Sharing definitely ! Thank you
Wow. Really loved this piece and has me thinking about my life as of late since I made a huge career change about 7 months ago. Thank you!