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Originally Posted by The_Jazz
To be equally frank, my problem actually is that you don't get my joke.
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What sign was there that it was a joke?...
I consider most things serious until proven humorous, at least in writing.
(emoticons help)
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Originally Posted by The_Jazz
Your career is generally the mark on the world that you can control. You can't control what your children will do, and they make their own marks.
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I'm not thinking of children at all. I'm thinking... why is your career the only thing that you can "control," in terms of making a mark? Is your job description going on your tombstone?
In my case, I feel a great deal of control about other things making a mark, far more than my career. Photography, writing, my desire to volunteer, learning languages, traveling, being an activist, etc. My career controls *me*, if there's any controlling going on. I am a slave to that paycheck, since those hours I am supposed to be working, are not being spent on all the other things that I would rather be doing.
Why is it so difficult to accept that identity does not *have* to be tied to one's career, and that it is in fact often unhealthy to live that way... as JJ pointed out in the OP?
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Originally Posted by maleficent
I really don't get it- and perhaps it's because they're not doing something they enjoy or what...
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No, for me, it's because I enjoy too many things to be tied down to one activity for X hours a week, X weeks a year, X years of my life. It's like a prison sentence, to me. If my life plays out the way I imagine (haha), I'll be changing jobs/careers every 5-10 years, if not more often, because there are just so many things I want to do, to try, to master... and then to move on to the next new thing. That's what I truly *enjoy* doing... and that's why I have no identity in any one job. Too limiting.
It's for the same reason that there are five countries and language between me and ktspktsp, and why I enjoy the idea of living in many different places, our kids speaking multiple languages, etc. Living in one place for my whole life, speaking one language, being with someone from my own culture... for me personally, I would go out of my mind with boredom. The world is too big, life is too short, to put all my identity in one basket. But maybe that's just me.
