should anyone be jobless

Should Anyone Be Jobless?

Vanessa Evans reached her mid-thirties, bored with her job as a paralegal. She had been promised more responsibilities, but more young, fresh-from-law-school attorneys were added to the staff. Finally realizing that her job was a dead end, she began taking stock of what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.

Somehow, she knew that becoming an attorney with the prospects of handling divorce suits and debating property line disputes was not for her. Vanessa was told by a job counselor that she was “getting to the age where she would be hard to place” and that she had just about reached her potential income level in the job where she was. The counselor urged Vanessa, at age 33, to be happy and stay put.

I wonder how many of us that has received this kind of advice in the past, when your parents, teachers, mentors and other experts told you the things you can do and the things you cannot do.

Angrily, Vanessa left the office, refusing to be limited by the tunnel vision of a job counselor. So what did she want to do with the rest of her life? She had many capabilities, but Vanessa couldn’t decide what she did well enough to make a career out of it. Finally calming down, the determined woman decided to start from square one. What had been her best subject in school? The answer was English. She began evaluating the career choices.

Teaching held no appeal, nor did advertising. It came down to two choices: Vanessa could either read other peoples’ work, or write her own. When she made the conscious commitment that she should be a participant in life, rather than an observer, Vanessa went back to night school and polished her writing skills. Before long, she was happily earning her living as an author.

No one should be jobless. All we need is the courage to start small and the discipline to stay focused until we achieve greatness.

It is in you!