Yesterday, I talked about pushing the limit. Today is a new day.
My dad used to tell me that I should find something that I really enjoy and do my best at making money out of it. At the time, the only real things that came to mind were playing video games and piano. I think it's interesting that despite how much I enjoyed my experiences in Japan it never really occurred to me to try teaching English in Japan until after graduating college and seeing the opportunity before me. It's weird how life works. I spent years thinking about thinking about what I wanted to do with my life and all of a sudden now I'm here having a pretty good time in a country I generally only correlated with vacation.
Finding something that you can look forward to doing every day is like trying to figure out what one dish you'd be willing to eat every single day of your life; it's hard to do. I love playing video games, watching movies, drinking beer with friends, etc.; but after a while of doing them enough I get sick of it, so I have to space things out. Rather than simply thinking about what I enjoy though, I've spent a lot of time thinking about why I like things. One thing that connects a lot of my hobbies is that they challenge me in some way. When I think about the jobs I've had in the past, after a certain point I no longer felt like I was really learning much. I felt like I hit a point where learning more wouldn't benefit the sort of lifestyle I'd want in the future.
As a teacher, I'm learning not only a lot about teaching and raising kids, I'm learning a lot about myself in the process and what kind of person I want to become. I'm challenged with both class-management and ensuring that what I teach these kids actually sticks with them. Not every day is perfect and sometimes I really just want a day off, but I never regret going to work. I find myself taking on extra projects like making decorations for the school or helping my kids do their homework before/after class, etc.
No way I'd do any of that at a place I didn't give a shit about. My previous job was boring as hell and I'd find myself just doing my work, talking with my coworkers, and not thinking about it when I got home. Now I find myself thinking about work a lot. For my own benefit as a teacher as well as for my students'. Finding something like this, to me, is a good sign that I've found something that suits me. Work that I not so much really enjoy (though I do sometimes), but work that I want to do.
When I think about that I can't help but wonder if I'm really working or if I'm just doing what I love to do? If that's the case, in the same way that I never really searched for this job, maybe there's no need for any of us to really search for a purpose, happiness, or whatever. Maybe it just comes to us at a certain point?
Having said that, after all of the drinking I've done tonight I'm probably gonna have a hangover in the morning. Well, at least I had fun doing it. Oops!
Peace
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - ConfuciusI spent today meeting up with an old high school friend who also participated in the same home-stay program that I did 10 years ago. We met up at his host family's house, talked about what we've been up to, etc. and it turns out that we've both come to Japan as English teachers. We came to Japan in high school for the same reason and were both so influenced by our experiences that we came back to do the same thing. Small world, yeah?
My dad used to tell me that I should find something that I really enjoy and do my best at making money out of it. At the time, the only real things that came to mind were playing video games and piano. I think it's interesting that despite how much I enjoyed my experiences in Japan it never really occurred to me to try teaching English in Japan until after graduating college and seeing the opportunity before me. It's weird how life works. I spent years thinking about thinking about what I wanted to do with my life and all of a sudden now I'm here having a pretty good time in a country I generally only correlated with vacation.
Finding something that you can look forward to doing every day is like trying to figure out what one dish you'd be willing to eat every single day of your life; it's hard to do. I love playing video games, watching movies, drinking beer with friends, etc.; but after a while of doing them enough I get sick of it, so I have to space things out. Rather than simply thinking about what I enjoy though, I've spent a lot of time thinking about why I like things. One thing that connects a lot of my hobbies is that they challenge me in some way. When I think about the jobs I've had in the past, after a certain point I no longer felt like I was really learning much. I felt like I hit a point where learning more wouldn't benefit the sort of lifestyle I'd want in the future.
As a teacher, I'm learning not only a lot about teaching and raising kids, I'm learning a lot about myself in the process and what kind of person I want to become. I'm challenged with both class-management and ensuring that what I teach these kids actually sticks with them. Not every day is perfect and sometimes I really just want a day off, but I never regret going to work. I find myself taking on extra projects like making decorations for the school or helping my kids do their homework before/after class, etc.
No way I'd do any of that at a place I didn't give a shit about. My previous job was boring as hell and I'd find myself just doing my work, talking with my coworkers, and not thinking about it when I got home. Now I find myself thinking about work a lot. For my own benefit as a teacher as well as for my students'. Finding something like this, to me, is a good sign that I've found something that suits me. Work that I not so much really enjoy (though I do sometimes), but work that I want to do.
When I think about that I can't help but wonder if I'm really working or if I'm just doing what I love to do? If that's the case, in the same way that I never really searched for this job, maybe there's no need for any of us to really search for a purpose, happiness, or whatever. Maybe it just comes to us at a certain point?
Having said that, after all of the drinking I've done tonight I'm probably gonna have a hangover in the morning. Well, at least I had fun doing it. Oops!
Peace
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| I write this blog every day because I want to. It's hard sometimes, but it doesn't feel like work, just discipline |
What kinds of things do you enjoy doing?
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