Sucky jobs & pre-existing patterns
One of my students, Maddy, is telling me that she’s waking up at night, panicky, worrying that she’s going to lose her house when they lay her off at work. She doesn’t know when the layoffs will come.
She’s living in a constant state of low-level fear, feeling horribly frustrated and powerless. She’s even applied for another job in the same field that she doesn’t even want, and afraid they’ll reject her.
Last night, another student, Claire, told me that she’s already lost her job and now she’s dreading finding another even as the bills are piling up, since the jobs are always the same low-level, horrible, mind-numbing kind. She’s been on a merry-go-round of them for twenty-five years. Her credit card is stacked up with debt.
Both Claire and Maddy have the same emotional energetic pattern. Let’s pull it out into the sunshine and take a look.
I ask Maddy why she thinks she can’t be happy in a career.
She answers, “My parents always said ‘just get a job. No one likes their job. Everyone just does one. That’s the way it is. Just get through it.’”
“And that’s what you’ve been doing?”
She tearfully nods and chokes out, “Yeah.”
“Do you think I hate my job?” I ask.
“No.”
“Does my husband hate his job as a designer? Do you think my mom hates her job? Did my aunt hate her job teaching English as s second language? Does my cousin hate his job as a chef?”
No, no, no, and no.
“And do you think we have jobs we love because we’re special or smarter or something? In other words, different or better than you?”
“Yes,” she practically whispers.