Future

So I had some fun thoughts the other day. On Thanksgiving, I was talking with my family about jobs, the future, namely nursing. My aunt is a nurse, and she became registered as a nurse through a two year program at a community college. She explained to my family that she took the fast track because she knew that she did not want to ever "move up the nursing chain" so to speak, i.e. hold a nurse management job, etc. Now she works for some drug company, answering customer phone calls about how to use the drugs and what not. Anyway, she went on to explain how, for her, work is about getting in and getting out, a means to an end. In other words she "works to live" as opposed to "living to work" in the typical "I love my job and it defines who I am" fashion. I started to ponder my own motives regarding my future career, and realized that I fall somewhere in between. I can always see both sides to every situation, which turns out to be both beneficial as well as detrimental. If you know me well, you know that I am very indecisive, which can sometimes get me into trouble. Anyway, back to the whole future thing. I certainly don't want to despise my job, or even just feel "ok" about it. But I also don't want my job to come before my friends and family, and all the other things I'd like to do. Idealy, I'd like to be a passionate nurse and love what I do, helping others achieve a holistic state of well being. Instead of describing who I am, I'd like to think that my job will merely shape who I am. I don't think it's too much to ask to be happy in both my career and my personal life. I want it all! The reason I go on about this topic, is because I have seen so many people who are just unhappy in their personal lives, because of their jobs, for either of the two extremes. In one case, their personal life sucks because they hate their job, but feel they don't have any control over the direction of their life. They don't have the courage to make a change. So they continue to hate their job, let it get to them when they are at home, and take it out on their friends and family. In the second situation, they have received their dream job. They are very passionate and hardworking people. They give up everything for that job: their time, their friends, their family. In other words they have sacrificed their soul. The job becomes who they are, and nobody wants to be around them. This leads them to a life of loneliness and despair. And if they do happen to have a family, they probably won't stick around to put up with it for long. 

Life is such a balancing act.