Career paths
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
My mind has been on careers recently. I have a variety of peoples I come into contact daily and inevitably when we seldom meet people will ask you what you do and how is your work?
Now that I have a job it comes easy and they have something to fill in their heads under the folder labeled: Occupations
Everyone has freaking labels in their heads that goes something like this. You meet Patricia from God's know where and you cannot remember who she is and what she does so you look in your folders of people you have not seen for the past 5 years.
You find Patricia's information.
She is your ex-class mate from secondary school. Of course. She was a straight A student and went on to pursue A levels after that.
So you labeled as smart. You find out she is dating for the past 2 years so you label her as potentially going to be married.
So you ask her what she is currently doing?
And she says: dadadada
Just like that you have something to put under occupations and to you Patricia will always be that proper young woman who will do precisely what she is suppose to do with her degree and in a related field of work that has to do with this degree.
She is not going to turn into a freak and decide to pack her bags and go to Las Vegas to be a Show Girl. No not Patricia.
Why am I telling you this?
The point is we judge people all the time based on their decisions and life choices particularly when it is careers. If you do not do something in relation to what you studied people will ask. Not just your bosses but people, everyone. They will ask.
I am not Patricia. I am not going to go to Las Vegas and be a Show Girl either.
I am working in a Primary School being a role model to young kids. I take my job seriously and you may have a hard time wrapping your mind around the idea of ME being anyone's role model but I take my job seriously.
Do I want to be in Education forever? Yes.
I want to learn and teach.
Do I want to become a teacher? No.
Are you confused?
I hope so.
Let me explain. To be a teacher you do not just teach you dance, you choreograph, you perform, you have meetings all the time, you plan events, you have auditing to do, you are ranked, you are given a quota of passing grades to fulfill...
Every move you make in this career is put under a microscope because you are working for the Government. The pressure can become immense I salute all my teachers who have worked in this line for so long. They are noble, work hard and sacrifice so much of their own time away from their family to help other children succeed.
Am I able to do all this? No.
So I choose to strictly assist. I am tightfisted with my time and I will do the work set aside for me but to sacrifice all of my time for my work. I cannot do this. And I have not had to do this. Yet.
I love working with children but I may want to check out other options where I can strictly focus on working with kids. Like 80% of the time instead of 40%.
I have also got my "lets go to Las Vegas and be a Show Girl" moments where I think of working magic on people's faces, painting pale golden hues on their lids and dusting pixie pink on their cheekbones. I want to go to Paris and speak French to the locals, meet someone in a foreign land who makes me feel like I am the Sugarplum Princess, who can't take his eyes off me. We do not have to be pulled or held down by gravity, we float. We are like nymphs on water, fun frivolous fun? How do I explain it to the "Patricas" of this world? I was on holiday. I met someone. He made me feel special so we went out together to explore Paris.
Where is he now?
I don't know. We just met.
This has always been a tough topic to wrap my head around because I have my own ideas about this and most clear headed and high minded career girls everywhere may scoff at my ideas and think I am like a freaking Martian but I cannot care less.
I have never followed the herd mentality. Just because it is in vogue and expected of girls my age it does not mean I have to do it.
My career path is my own and I do not starve so if I accept your decision to climb the corporate ladder in your stilettos, through gritted teeth and at the expense of your sanity, you respect my decision to carve out my own career path. I respect yours I won't judge. I promise.
Now that I have a job it comes easy and they have something to fill in their heads under the folder labeled: Occupations
Everyone has freaking labels in their heads that goes something like this. You meet Patricia from God's know where and you cannot remember who she is and what she does so you look in your folders of people you have not seen for the past 5 years.
You find Patricia's information.
She is your ex-class mate from secondary school. Of course. She was a straight A student and went on to pursue A levels after that.
So you labeled as smart. You find out she is dating for the past 2 years so you label her as potentially going to be married.
So you ask her what she is currently doing?
And she says: dadadada
Just like that you have something to put under occupations and to you Patricia will always be that proper young woman who will do precisely what she is suppose to do with her degree and in a related field of work that has to do with this degree.
She is not going to turn into a freak and decide to pack her bags and go to Las Vegas to be a Show Girl. No not Patricia.
Why am I telling you this?
The point is we judge people all the time based on their decisions and life choices particularly when it is careers. If you do not do something in relation to what you studied people will ask. Not just your bosses but people, everyone. They will ask.
I am not Patricia. I am not going to go to Las Vegas and be a Show Girl either.
I am working in a Primary School being a role model to young kids. I take my job seriously and you may have a hard time wrapping your mind around the idea of ME being anyone's role model but I take my job seriously.
Do I want to be in Education forever? Yes.
I want to learn and teach.
Do I want to become a teacher? No.
Are you confused?
I hope so.
Let me explain. To be a teacher you do not just teach you dance, you choreograph, you perform, you have meetings all the time, you plan events, you have auditing to do, you are ranked, you are given a quota of passing grades to fulfill...
Every move you make in this career is put under a microscope because you are working for the Government. The pressure can become immense I salute all my teachers who have worked in this line for so long. They are noble, work hard and sacrifice so much of their own time away from their family to help other children succeed.
Am I able to do all this? No.
So I choose to strictly assist. I am tightfisted with my time and I will do the work set aside for me but to sacrifice all of my time for my work. I cannot do this. And I have not had to do this. Yet.
I love working with children but I may want to check out other options where I can strictly focus on working with kids. Like 80% of the time instead of 40%.
I have also got my "lets go to Las Vegas and be a Show Girl" moments where I think of working magic on people's faces, painting pale golden hues on their lids and dusting pixie pink on their cheekbones. I want to go to Paris and speak French to the locals, meet someone in a foreign land who makes me feel like I am the Sugarplum Princess, who can't take his eyes off me. We do not have to be pulled or held down by gravity, we float. We are like nymphs on water, fun frivolous fun? How do I explain it to the "Patricas" of this world? I was on holiday. I met someone. He made me feel special so we went out together to explore Paris.
Where is he now?
I don't know. We just met.
***
This has always been a tough topic to wrap my head around because I have my own ideas about this and most clear headed and high minded career girls everywhere may scoff at my ideas and think I am like a freaking Martian but I cannot care less.
I have never followed the herd mentality. Just because it is in vogue and expected of girls my age it does not mean I have to do it.
My career path is my own and I do not starve so if I accept your decision to climb the corporate ladder in your stilettos, through gritted teeth and at the expense of your sanity, you respect my decision to carve out my own career path. I respect yours I won't judge. I promise.
Labels: daily updates, poetry, random acts, reflective
what we could have been, 3:41 PM.
