Finding a Job you Love

Nursing Graduation

Finding a job you love; well that’s a difficult task. Often, we look at our life and put work and home life in two separate categories. Everyone talks about having a good work-life balance, but to be honest why? If we found a job that we enjoy and want to spend more time on, then what’s the issue with that? I often see people get criticized for working too much or too little. How much time should we balance? This is the question that everyone will judge and influence how you feel about work. We all need to spend time looking after ourselves and rest but how much of that time is up to you. No-one knows you better than yourself.

Now finding yourself may take some time but that’s alright, you are allowed to change your mind or make mistakes throughout your life. Not just making mistakes but admitting to it and others being fine with it. There is too much judgement in this world and how I dealt with it was easy. For myself I have changed jobs at least 5 times within the last 12 years. This was from working at Woolworths, to being a nurse, to joining the Airforce, to trying out youth working and mental health work, and now back to being a nurse. Throughout this journey I had many people tell me to settle down and stay consistent. You won’t be able to leave and get a job, just stay and work hard with the one you have. Every time I thought about leaving a job and trying to find something I would enjoy; these comments would follow. Now this can be very harsh when all you want to do is live your life the way you want but everyone else was telling you how.

So, at one point of my life, I stopped listening and it was the best thing I did. I stopped thinking about what others thought of me and truly asked myself what I want to do. This was hard for myself as I didn’t really know myself or what I wanted to do. I had to plan and just apply for jobs that seemed satisfying for me. You don’t know what you like until you try it. I enjoyed all the jobs I did and found that through these experiences I was able to grow as a person and understand myself. I was never locked into one carer, and it was never too hard to change, I just needed to make sure I planned out my next steps. I find that you need to enjoy the work but also the people you work with. You spend most of your time at work so if you are having a hard time with others than what’s the point. They will just put your enjoyment of work down so better yet just go work for someone else in the same field. You can always leave a job and start somewhere else.

This is one thing I found hard as people have different opinions of work, some just turn up to do the job and don’t make friends. This is hard, you should make friends, you spend a whole lot of time at work why wouldn’t you want to make it pleasant by working with people you like? For me to love work I need two things, the work is fun and challenging, and there is a positive social environment. This is the two things that will make you love your work. Having a positive social environment will also give you support to do the work and rely on others. If your really enjoy the work, help change the environment, by just complimenting others and asking for feedback from your colleagues. If you are having trouble with the work, others may be doing it in a better way. It’s all about communication and being positive, to enjoy and love work.

The point is to find a job you love; you need to try out different things. If you really hate something, why stay? Plan out your next move, you can always apply for other jobs. What’s the worst thing that can happen? They say no, and then you try again. Never be afraid of failure, everyone is trying to live life the same way you are. Never listen to others that judge you, as most of the time they don’t understand their own life let alone yours. When you don’t understand something, try and learn and grow as a person.

Never think negatively, if you make a mistake, admit to it, learn from it and grow.