How Many People Does It Take To Get A 20 Year Old Into A Career?

Virgil #Virgilthetrooper replacing our van battery in -25C, Revelstoke, BC 2018. Turns out, the battery was the least of our problems!

A whole bunch. Or maybe none at all, because maybe you’re like me and start to question, what is a career anyway, and why do we need one?

Oxford Dictionary describes a career as “An occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life and with opportunities for progress.”

This folks, is what we all strive for. This simple, underwhelming sentence, is what we dedicate our entire lives towards with the hope of a good retirement.

I have taken a job since travelling in the van all winter and living in the little touring hut we occupied for a month. I quickly remembered the importance and excitement of weekends and how easy they are to waste before the next work week.

Found at an old mine in Sandon, BC. Way to be, Jerry.

Having experienced many jobs, being a workaholic to being a total hippy, I can say with confidence that my general well being and enjoyment of life has significantly changed, not all for the worse, but certainly not for the better. 

Here’s an analogy. You know how people say, ‘time flies when you’re having fun’. That saying only applies to weekends, holidays, and birthday parties. When you are enjoying more of life then you’re working, you feel like you’ve lived a lifetime in a very short time frame. For example, Virgil and I have been together for two years, but it feels like five, because we have done so much together in those two long years. I have so many incredible memories jam packed into such a small period of time.

Virgil and I in front of the hidden Mount Fuji on our trip to Japan. 

Now that I’m working, I wish for weeks to be over so I can have my weekend, and that wish comes true, week by week, I’m watching my summer flash before my eyes. This is because my memories are almost all the same. I drive to work, I do the same tasks, I come home and look forward to a day where I can choose to do different things, things that excite me and allow me to create new and different memories, but they go by in a flash.

Careers aren’t for everyone. 

So, how many people does it take to get a 20 year old into a career? Too many. Because there is nothing wrong with striving for a long life, full of memories. So, next time you’re being bombarded by countless people about what you’re doing with your life, tell them simply this, “you’re enjoying it”.