A few days ago an old friend from my small group at confirmation camp (back in 7th grade!) texted me "what's up?" I said I was looking for a job and, after two (relatively short) days of active searching I was feeling a bit hopeless about it. Because suddenly it hit me that not only am I looking for some summer income, but I should probably start figuring out what's next, you know, what comes at the end of the summer. I'd like to start on a trajectory, a "career path," as they say, but a job title and even a specific description of what I'd like to do evades me.
I said I wanted to work with kids, and he said he'd had a youth counselor when he was younger and he thought it had to be a really hard job. I said I thought it sounded like an opportunity to form meaningful relationships. "Well that depends on how you define 'meaningful,'" he said, and I almost laughed out loud. "You're talking to an anthropology major," I replied. "Of course it's vague, and open for interpretation."
It was a can of worms I maybe should have left alone, but it's a good and painfully relevant question. Just today a classmate and good friend called me asking the same basic question: how can I do meaningful work? Especially when I have to think about how I'm going to survive?!
On Wednesday morning I took a brief break from the Job Hunt to write thank-you notes, and around 10:30 in the morning I got a phone call asking if I could come in to a winery on main street for an interview that afternoon. On my way to that interview, after posting my letters, I got a phone call from the Indian restaurant on main street asking if I could come in to chat that evening. At 6 he said, "You're familiar with Indian food? How about you come in tomorrow just before 11?"
So today was my first day of work. I LOVED offering recommendations, filling water glasses, clearing plates, bantering with the kitchen staff... It was a slow day, and the back of the shop was so from the kitchen, but one group of women asked at the end of their meal, "What was your name? We plan to come back here and see you again." I smiled, "Great, I look forward to it!" And they said, "We look forward to it too!"
Meaningful work? The way I see it now, meaningful is not an adjective but an adverb: I work meaningfully. Like a good anthropology major, I know that meaningful is a state of mind more than a fixed factual description. I know who I am and what I value, and that is something I carry with me into any interview, any job, any relationship, even any 2-minute conversation.
I said I wanted to work with kids, and he said he'd had a youth counselor when he was younger and he thought it had to be a really hard job. I said I thought it sounded like an opportunity to form meaningful relationships. "Well that depends on how you define 'meaningful,'" he said, and I almost laughed out loud. "You're talking to an anthropology major," I replied. "Of course it's vague, and open for interpretation."
It was a can of worms I maybe should have left alone, but it's a good and painfully relevant question. Just today a classmate and good friend called me asking the same basic question: how can I do meaningful work? Especially when I have to think about how I'm going to survive?!
On Wednesday morning I took a brief break from the Job Hunt to write thank-you notes, and around 10:30 in the morning I got a phone call asking if I could come in to a winery on main street for an interview that afternoon. On my way to that interview, after posting my letters, I got a phone call from the Indian restaurant on main street asking if I could come in to chat that evening. At 6 he said, "You're familiar with Indian food? How about you come in tomorrow just before 11?"
So today was my first day of work. I LOVED offering recommendations, filling water glasses, clearing plates, bantering with the kitchen staff... It was a slow day, and the back of the shop was so from the kitchen, but one group of women asked at the end of their meal, "What was your name? We plan to come back here and see you again." I smiled, "Great, I look forward to it!" And they said, "We look forward to it too!"
Meaningful work? The way I see it now, meaningful is not an adjective but an adverb: I work meaningfully. Like a good anthropology major, I know that meaningful is a state of mind more than a fixed factual description. I know who I am and what I value, and that is something I carry with me into any interview, any job, any relationship, even any 2-minute conversation.
