Who Are You Really?

When someone asks you what you do for a living, do you have a go-to answer?  Do you give them a one or two word response?   If you have a career that most people are familiar with such as fire fighter, doctor or lawyer, then it is easy.  But what if  your career path takes a bit more explanation?

The other day I was talking to a kid who simply said, “I work up in North Dakota on the Bakken Shale Formation.”  When pressed, he dug deeper.  He spends three weeks out of the month, he boasted, working long hours installing control systems on oil wells.  He then spent the next fifteen minutes telling me about Watford City and how expensive it was to live there.  He told me that there were Man camps, like back in the eighteen hundreds when the way to wealth was to mine gold.  He was an interesting young man.

It took him a bit to tell me that he was called a Field Technician.  It didn’t really matter.  What mattered to him was that he loved what he was doing.  He was passionate about his work.

Which finally brings me to my point.  Are you following your hearts desire and fulfilling the reason you were born?

Okay, that got deep rather quickly.  Yet here is what I propose: take a moment to ask yourself either silently or out loud if you enjoy what you are doing.  Once you ask the question, pay attention to how you feel and where you feel it.  For example, before I became a writer and blogger, I worked in the financial industry.  Whenever I asked myself that question, my stomach would growl and a wave of nausea would come over me.  Yet still, I ignored these signs.

Not only did my current situation not feel right, my blood pressure starting climbing to an astronomical rate.  My hormones were acting crazy, making it difficult to sleep and concentrate. My weight was fluctuating as eating was a chore and difficult at best.   In desperation, I sought advice from the medical field.  One doctor told me to get off sugar, work out more, and get on anti-depressants.  The second one told me I was allergic to gluten and to say goodbye to tasty bread forever. He added bio-identicals which helped a great deal.   Despite my health improving, it seemed that road blocks kept getting in the way of where I thought I was going once again, and that was success.

So fast forward to now.  Left Wall Street behind about two years ago.  Best decision I have ever made in regards to my career.  I can boldly tell you that  I am a writer, a speaker, and a humanitarian.  When I say these words to you, I smile.  It makes me happy.  So, as difficult as it may be, it is time to ask yourself.  Are you happy when you say the words you use when asked what you do?  Are you doing what you were sent here to do?  I don’t know the answer for you.  But it is there.  Just waiting for you to ask.  And listen.