We all want to answer some grand calling, to be happy with our work.
Here's the reality: It doesn't matter what you do.
Yes, that's right. Toss out all the dreams of grandeur and the pressure to decide what to do in life. You decide a little. Life decides the rest. Even the best-laid plans don't work out sometimes. And that's OK.
In my life, I have had many careers. many jobs. Many roles.
Journalist. Disc jockey. Broadcast director. Salesperson. Product demonstrator. Brand ambassador. Promotional model. Recruiter. Hiring manager. Trainer. Full-time mom. Full-time student.
In about a month, I will take a test in speech communication to again be a full-time student and then begin a new role and career teaching public speaking to high school students.
I don't worry whether I will like it or not. I don't get nervous or wonder if I will be good at it. I can always just try something else.
Rarely in life, if ever, does anyone find one single calling and live an entire life dedicated to it. Life is a series of changes; it never quite plateaus.
Yesterday, I took my 4-year-old to pre-kindergarten for the first time. WWE backpack full with a blanket for nap time and a change of clothes in case of an accident, he was ready and raring to go.
His teacher reported an outstanding first day; so did he.
By this morning, he was ready to throw in the towel and be a preschool dropout. He hesitated as a teacher on duty tried to coax him out of the car. He scooted all the way to the opposite door.
What had changed in just the course of a day? Why had he suddenly decided he would rather spend all day with Mommy? Yesterday afternoon, he was talking about all his friends and being at "big school" with his brother, a second-grader.
What changed?
Nothing.
And everything.
In the eyes of a 4-year-old, the world is both new and old all in the same day.
The writing he struggled with this morning is "baby stuff" this afternoon.
The Hershey Co. alleges that change is bad. Then it touts that Hershey's chocolate is unchanged since 1939.
Change isn't bad.
It isn't good.
It is just change.
Get used to it.
But not for long.
