There is a significant number of people who follow a career path that isn’t aligned with their passions. Reasons such as a high salary, parents’ approval, reputation, under influence of friends or social media, and others may try to change your opinion. At first, the idea may seem straightforward and manageable but it doesn’t take long for the individuals to realize it drains their mental health and physical health, they aren’t capable of reaching their full potential for success and their career doesn’t live up to what they portrayed it to be.
Individuals who pursue a career they aren’t interested in causes them to enter a systematic loop that they can’t escape for the sole reasons of money, and the fear of not being able to support their lifestyle. This can affect their mental and physical health in several ways. The systemic loop puts individuals in routines that can make people feel unfulfilled and depleted of any motivation which can make a person depressed, unhappy, anxious, and helpless to change their lives. Not only does their routine mentally drain them but it also physically drains them. This is by causing issues associated with their sleep where they might have nightmares of their job and constant dread of waking up and doing something or they may develop sleep conditions like insomnia. It may also physically affect their daily performance and productivity as they might not be excited or motivated which can affect their social life and eating habits. Their job might also make them simply feel tired or wary.
Not only will pursuing a job one is not passionate about in the slightest impact their mental and physical health negatively, but it doesn’t allow them to be open to success as someone who is passionate about their job would. In other words, they are not reaching their full potential to have equivalent success. This can be shown by their limited creativity. When an individual is not interested in a certain thing they restrict their mindset and that limits their capability of thinking outside of the box. They only work to what they are supposed to do in their daily tasks. For example, if a highly talented artist pursues a career as a doctor, most likely they won’t think about using new techniques, things that can aid their comfortability, new inventions, or even thinking about cancer research to help them. Whereas if they pursued a career as an artist they might make their art pieces and think of many ways to showcase their art in museums, sell them to customers on different social platforms, create art clubs, and make art for people who can’t communicate well or make art for a specific’s person’s situation. Another reason why most people don’t have the potential for full success is that they aren’t open to taking risks or opportunities. When someone is not creative about their job or willing to learn beyond it is likely they won’t take risks and opportunities that will help boost them for full success. When a person wants to find a red balloon in a room full of balloons, they can only find it if they are willing to look for it. Just like that, a person will see opportunities and a path to success if they are willing to, not if they close their eyes. To take risks and opportunities a person should have full confidence in their actions, be creative and passionate about their career!
For many people, the idea of a career might appeal to them, but then end up being different than what they might have initially portrayed it to be because they pursue it for the wrong ideas. This may be the case with the children and teens in this generation, as a career associated with media may appeal to them such as being an actor, social media influencer, YouTuber, etc. The reason behind this can be due to the fact they spend most of their time on social media themselves and are inspired by it, or they have a desire to pursue a career around it because of what other people like their friends think about it. This may start off as a good idea but if they genuinely aren’t ardent or creative about what they are doing, then they might start to lose followers and fans along the way, which can make them feel pressured to post even if they don’t feel like it. Some people will also lose fame, especially with age and as time goes by and a person with a small platform. For example, a person may have had a platform of 200,000 people and might have felt financially secure at the age of 30, they might lose followers and a lot of their platform which can decrease income and won’t be enough to support their lifestyle, thus making their social media career short-lived. This can also be evident if a person is interested in a career for the wrong reasons. For example, if an individual wants to be a surgeon for the high salary, they might put their patients’ lives at risk by making careless mistakes solely for the desire of money.
A person shouldn’t pursue a career for the wrong reasons; they should pursue a career where they are genuine, passionate, and creative about the daily tasks they do. This will help them avoid drained mental and physical health, incapability of reaching full potential for success, and their career not living up to their expectations because of personal wrong reasons.
Citations
Cole, N. (2016, October 21). 9 sad reasons people stay in jobs they don't like (even though they always talk about leaving). Inc.com. Retrieved August 18, 2022, from https://www.inc.com/nicolas-cole/9-sad-reasons-people-stay-in-jobs-they-dont-like-even-though-they-always-talk-ab.html#:~:text=Because%20they%20fear%20being%20wrong,trying%20in%20the%20first%20place.
O'Donnell, J. T. (2018, January 22). I spent 15 years studying why people hate their jobs. this is the Top Reason. Inc.com. Retrieved August 18, 2022, from https://www.inc.com/jt-odonnell/how-this-1-question-can-make-you-choose-wrong-career.html
Stahl, A. (2021, December 10). Hate your job? here's what it's costing you. Forbes. Retrieved August 18, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2016/03/03/hate-your-job-heres-what-its-costing-you/?sh=3cce96dc6630
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