How Do You Define ‘Work’?

Image by Antonio Gabola on Unsplash

Work in my house doesn’t seem to mean the same as for everyone else. I’m not sure where it started but I think both my partner and I have always had a different take on it. You see, work is the thing you do because you are driven to, it’s the thing that keeps you up at night and screaming in your head in frustration when regular life pulls you away from it. Your job, on the other hand, is what you do for money, it’s nothing more than a means to an end. If you’re really lucky, you combine the two. Can you tell we’re a house of creatives?

The phrase ‘I just need to work’, is a broken record around here, and somehow there just never seems to be enough time for any of us to feel truly satisfied. I wonder though if that’s about having enough time, or having an unending amount of ideas that excite you. Our frustration levels are unsurprising really as both he and I could happily sit working indefinitely, only stirring for food and water, which isn’t really something you can do with four home-educated children.

We are taught early on to pick the thing we’re going to be when we grow up, that each of us has one unique calling, one skill that we’re going to excel at, but there couldn’t be a more limiting idea. I’m a writer, I’m sure it’s part of my DNA because whether I’m physically doing it or not, I can feel it there waiting for me like a low hum in the background. This doesn’t mean I haven’t been many other things in the past and will be in the future. It doesn’t mean I won’t pick up and put down a multitude of other skills or wear different hats throughout my lifetime. Some I’ll enjoy, others not so much, but all of them will satisfy a different aspect of me and teach me so much along the journey. 

The era of having one job for life, or even one area of focus for life, has long passed. The moment we shrank the world via travel and the internet, we didn’t just open ourselves up to experiences, we also opened ourselves up to the full potential of who we could be.

Children are forever wanting to try new things, chopping and changing their passions quickly as they experiment. Yet, they don’t know what to ask for next if they’ve never seen or heard of it before. This is where the environment and people around them matter so much because it’s through them that possibilities are introduced. It is the same for us as adults but somehow we stop experiencing new things and begin believing that we have learned what we need to, and we’ve made our choices. What if we chose to never stop learning, never stop exploring new avenues, cultures, careers, and lifestyles? What if there were no self-imposed limits or sell-by dates on making changes to our lifestyles?

I’ve met so many people, parents especially, who are almost afraid to ask themselves. What do I want? What do I want to do? They spend so many years focused on the beautiful beings they have brought into the world that their individual self has become lost in the fog of all that a child needs. With the passing of decades, it can be daunting to begin the journey back to themselves and find what it is that they love and are curious to play with, something solely for their benefit and enjoyment. But for me, that work, that thing you uncover when you dig deep down, is the kindling to the passion that carries you through life. It offers a sense of purpose and drive which is the ultimate indicator of how healthy and vibrant the second half of your life will be. To feel truly alive and awake, as a species we need to have a why, and an external source for that will only take us so far.

So don’t tell me about your job, I want to hear about what you do. What is your work? What is the inescapable part of you, that you are here to share? I can’t wait to meet it.

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This piece was written thanks to a monthly theme from Illuminate, a writing community from The Kindred Voice.

Read more stories on work from the other Illuminate members.

How Do You Define 'Work'? by Adeola Sheehy
My Work is Never Done (a poem) by Mia Sutton
What Do You Do? by Hannah Kewley
They Say a Mother's Work is Never Done by Leesha Mony
Working in the Margins by Laci Hoyt
You Gotta Work B**ch by Amy Rich
Labors of Love by Liz Russell
on my terms. by Eunice Brownlee
I Am a Writer by Christine Carpenter
Potted Houseplant by Crystal James