Yesterday I returned home from a family holiday to The Whitsunday's. The week away was one of the best mini-holidays I've ever had and it made me really step back and evaluate life and where I am, where I'm headed and am I doing myself justice by following a path that truly makes me happy? They're pretty big questions, but I've been pondering over them for a few days and felt that I needed to write another blog post - especially seeing as it's been so long since the last one!
I met so many people on my trip, we did a couple day trip cruises around the islands and on those we met some of the crew, my family consisted of myself, my parents, my brother and his wonderful girlfriend, my grandparents and two of my aunties. It didn't matter where we went, people were drawn to us. On one of the day trips one of the crew said to me, "It's really wonderful what you have here, it's so special to see such a happy family here... Your happiness brings something special to this cruise." She was a single mum of three, migrated from China on her own, became an Australian citizen, and had made a way for her children to have the best. Another of the crew on this specific cruise sat down with us and started opening up about his life and how he had come to be in Australia (he was English) and on board this boat as a crew member... it really is humbling hearing about the struggle some people go through to find themselves. Personally, I think the best customer service is when the customer walks away feeling like they were treated like a real human being. But it got me thinking about the remark made it the movie Fight Club, where on the plane a comment is made about "single serve friendships"... Everything on a plane comes single serve, including the friendship with the person you sit next to. I guess the same thing applies to the cruises. But I can't help but feel extraordinarily blessed by the people I met, I might only meet them once, but their stories will stick with me forever. And what will stick even more is that they loved their jobs. The crew for the cruise ship worked 12-13 hour days, sometimes 7 days straight and yet because of what they were doing (taking people snorkelling, scuba diving, swimming, and just seeing awesome sights in general) and how happy they could make people they loved it.
Just before I went away, I did an assignment all between the link of what is put inside of you from birth that you are passionate about and the career that you take up when you finish school. The question I found difficult to answer is whether or not there really is a link. I believe there is. I believe everyone is called to do something with themselves that will not only satisfy their own person, but it will contribute to the greater picture in making the world a better place. A career can be a calling, but not everyone is called to it. The pressure of this generation is to go through school - and do it with excellence. Once that's done, go to uni - and do it with excellence. Finally, after Uni, fight your way into a job, trying to prove why YOU are a better uni graduate than anyone else. And who knows if by that time you're going to enjoy what you've spent years studying? But isn't it too late? You've got student debts, you probably haven't been earning much whilst you were studying, so it's just too late.
But it's not. From seeing the people love their work so passionately and not really care about how much they were earning, it spoke to me. It's never too late to get into what you love. And when you work somewhere you love, people will notice it. You'll do your work better, you'll put heart and soul into it because it's what actually matters to you. And you'll flourish.
Life can be challenging, and it can take a lot to get us on the right path... But once you're there, you'll grow and succeed and you'll see why you went through what you did. Going back to the crew member I mentioned earlier, he literally went through hell and back before he got into a job he loved. He told of how he served in the army for 6 years, and learnt a trade. He couldn't stand it anymore, he was miserable at his posting and miserable when he came back home... But because of that time in the army and learning a trade, it made it possible for him to move to Australia. Sometimes we need to do things out of obligation, or do things we hate, in order to find what we truly love doing.
It's not too late to do what you love. (And it's not too impractical or too big a dream either)
