The Value of Work

There are times in our life when well-established work structures fall apart and we are set adrift. Work, in all its shapes and sizes, creates definition – an outline that contains the wild and woolly elements that comprise a human life. When we lose our employment or our artistic purpose, or the on-going project of running a family — we feel shapeless and our life feels in disarray. Why is work so important?

Business or work may be applicable to multiple aspects of your life. Business or work may pertain to your livelihood, a project, or an artistic mission. You may be a participant in a volunteer project at your child’s school or a CEO of a start-up, you may work as a director or manager in a corporation or non-profit or have a day-job while you are attending college. You may be a professor or work in technology or retail -– you may telecommute from home or work in a brick-and-mortar establishment.

When you are mentally and physically healthy you work, meaning you are actively engaged in your life in a structured way. When you are committed to your job or career or a project, you approach it industriously and conscientiously. You meet your goals and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Work gives you personal and professional meaning, purpose, a sense of satisfaction, and necessary financial compensation. Your job may be part and parcel of your identity. You express your creativity and contribute your unique gifts to the larger community.

When you devote yourself to a job or a career for a substantial number of years, you may come to embrace the experience wholeheartedly; you undergo maturation — as you deepen your knowledge, increase your understanding and develop mastery and excellence. You may experience a sense of completeness from a lifelong endeavor.

You may enjoy working, in part, because it brings you into the world of others; you make friends and may have work associates who become a second family. You may be with the same group of people most days of the week and that proximity creates a sense of continuity in your work relationships. These relationships give you a feeling of connectedness to others even if there are some individuals that rub you the wrong way.

It is important to our mental health to have defined roles, a structure, and creative outlets that give us a sense of purpose – a reason to be alive. When we are able to move toward and activate projects, activities and meaningful endeavors, we experience our aliveness. We are expressing our whole Self. We have defined a structure that supports and manifests form in our lives.

With retirement we may create different roles with less structure and more open-time. We transition to free space to create whatever it is that calls us. Some retired folks go back to part-time work because they liked and miss their work and want to sustain that level of activity.

Loss of work direction, in all its manifestations, can be deeply discouraging; we may feel at sea, lost in the immense ocean of life and lacking a rudder. There are many reasons why this situation occurs but it is important to acknowledge all the personal ramifications from loss of employment and loss of familiar activities: our children go off to college, life is altered due to health issues,  aging or retirement. We may experience “an identity crisis” as we realize we must sow new seeds — create a different platform under our feet. The transition can be quite challenging and we may fall into a slump and suffer from depression.

Whatever our situation – we can commit to activating ourselves at whatever level we are able. From the enjoyment of cooking a meal and writing a poem, managing our home and volunteering, tutoring or finding a new and better job — we invest in a discovery process that allows us to design a new and unique place to thrive.