The Work You Do Every Day Has Meaning Whether You Realize It or Not
Just because you may not have your dream job that changes the world doesn't mean that you aren't making a difference for your family
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It’s more important to change your world than to change the rest of the world.
Many of us are stuck in jobs we don’t want to go to because of the kind of work we do, who we work with, don’t think it makes any difference, annoys us, or want to do something else. We have an idea of the kind of work we would want to do but don’t have the knowledge or ability to give up a good-paying job to start that dream business from scratch so we feel stuck and unhappy.
It’s easy to fall into that trap of being unsatisfied or jealous when people on YouTube pull in six figures sending out videos from their couches while you are stuck working 10 hours in an office full of fluorescent lights. Or you get jealous of the person who makes their living by starting their dream business doing work they always wanted to do or built a non-profit for a cause they feel passionate about.
You don’t have to be in that situation to find meaning and satisfaction. If you don’t like your job, force yourself to be grateful for it and focus on what it provides. It may give you the health insurance that makes medical care affordable for your family. Your paycheck you get up to earn every day lets you live in a nice neighborhood with good schools for your children. You could work from home and get to see your kids more since you don’t have a job that requires an hour commute to an office every day.
There’s nothing wrong with not finding meaning in your job. You could get your satisfaction from spending as much time with your kids as possible or supporting your spouse if she works long hours and is passionate about her work. The biggest impact you make in the world could be raising someone who turns into a successful adult in every aspect of life. You have a much better chance of doing that than saving the planet.
You have plenty of options to find meaningful work outside of raising your kids and keeping your house running. You can start a side-hustle of any kind at any time or work to get the skills to do it. It probably will take years, but you could replace your income from the job you don’t care about if you work hard enough. It won’t pay bills right away, but you get the satisfaction of working towards something you enjoy and could be how you provide in the future.
Your work may not mean a lot to you, but it does to your family. Doing something you don’t want to do every day demonstrates how important it is to provide and sets an example to your children of how to act in the future. There will be times your kids won’t want to go to school. How do you expect them to do things they don’t want to do if you don’t own your responsibilities and complain about them all the time? Work you don’t think has meaning can have more than you know.