so i've been thinking of a change in career and thinking of seeing a career councelor

but then I'm faced with a puzzling paradox: how can a good career councelor exist? if someone is an expert at knowing the various fields which offer the best opportunities, why would such a person choose career councelor as a job? certainly there are jobs that offer a better salary and benefits, no? I just imagine someone studying to be a career councelor and once he finishes his studies goes on to do some other job having realized through the course of his studies that career councelor wasn,t the best option. 🤔

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SandWitch · 26-30, F

The question you are asking yourself is on par with the job of being a Financial Planner.

Why would you go to a Certified Financial Planner for investment advise if the guy you sought investment advise from lived in a basement apartment and owed money on his credit card each month?

The truth is, Certified Financial Planners are not typically 'rich' people because they typically work for someone else, but they alleged to know how to make YOU rich if you invest with them.

Therefore, why do most people go to a bank to solicit the services of a Financial Planner if Financial Planners are not rich and they are working 40 hours a week for someone else like the bank who is their employer? If they were rich, they wouldn't be an employee of a bank, right? Yet we go to them for financial advise.

The same analogy goes with one becoming a Career Counselor. If a Career Counselor knew where all the best jobs were being generated from, why would they be content to sit in a high school counselor's office advising students in what education direction they should be focusing on to become successful in life?

Just because a Financial Planner knows how to make YOU money, doesn't mean that he knows how to make himself money. What his calling in life really revolves around is providing financial advise to others, yet not making money for himself.

The same thing applies to Career Counselors. Pointing people in what they perceive to be the correct direction is their calling in life. But it doesn't mean they take their own advise when push comes to shove!

reflectingmonkey · 51-55, M

@SandWitch I guess you have a point, I've had a doctor who smoked and was overweight 🤷 i can see how someone might have a real passion for taking people who need a direcion and helping them get one. it must make life feel meaningful.

SandWitch · 26-30, F

@reflectingmonkey
What we do for a living is actually about us answering our 'calling' in life. If we love what we do when we go to work and we would do that job because we like the job itself more than the money it pays, then we are answering our 'calling' in life.

But if we hate our job despite it paying a lot of money to do it, we are not answering our 'calling' in life because we do not feel joyful in what we are doing when we serve others.

Money is a short-term motivator that's often used to get us to do something that most people hate doing. Eventually, we too will tire quickly of a poor job even if it pays huge amounts of money. The money will quickly become secondary to our sense of purpose on this earth and our overall state of well-being.

reflectingmonkey · 51-55, M

@SandWitch you're right, I've explored many professions and in the last few years I was thinking more about money but what I really want is to find something that would feel like my calling. I like how you think and express yourself, you remind me of me, even if it might be strange to say that.

SandWitch · 26-30, F

@reflectingmonkey
I remind you of you? That's a compliment to me since my first language is not English!

Sometimes a hobby we have is actually our 'calling' in life and in some cases, we can make a living by simply doing our hobby.

Sometimes our calling cannot be classified as a 'profession' at all and presents itself more like an occupation than a profession. Either way, you have to do what you love doing or you'll soon be looking for a new job somewhere else which can be a repeating cycle as you jump from one employer to another. In that case, where the real problem lies in our choice of work, not who we work for to do that work.

If we find ourselves changing employers frequently to do the same type of work at each place and if we looked deeper into our motivation for changing employers, we'd find that we are not really fulfilling our calling which will prove itself to be the root cause of our motivation for change for the sake of change.

reflectingmonkey · 51-55, M

@SandWitch may I ask what is your first language? my first language is french, my second is english but I am fairly fluent in spanish because I travelled a lot in spanish speaking countries and hhad a girlfriend for 4 years who is spanish speaking, from Venezuela. we left each other a few months ago.

SandWitch · 26-30, F

@reflectingmonkey
As I have inferred in my profile notes, my first language is Swedish. I learned English as a second language which was a mandatory subject in school, but my ability to practice speaking or writing English was limited because I lived in northern Sweden at the Arctic Circle and adjacent to the border with Finland which is a rural, non-cosmopolitan environment.

reflectingmonkey · 51-55, M

@SandWitch wow, that is awesome!! it must be beautiful over there. so I imagine you get some days that are always sunlight and days that are always night? is there good downhill skiing ?

SandWitch · 26-30, F

@reflectingmonkey
That is true, some nights are painfully long (which can also be good!)and some days are painfully short (which can also be good!). Sweden is mainly a country with hilly countryside but the only true mountainous area for downhill skiing is along the Swedish border with Norway where the mountains rise about 6000 feet.