I like this weeks prompt for I Must Confess. And it’s a simple one, too.
The Best Advice For Life
The best advice I was ever given was from my grade 11 & 12 legal studies teacher. I don’t know why we were on the topic, but one day my teacher said that on your death bed, you won’t be thinking about the hours you worked for your promotion, your salary, or anything like that. You will be thinking of your life and your loved ones.
Now, my teacher was fairly conservative, so I do think she meant “get married, have kids” rather than “make sure you do things in life that you agree with, travel, have fun, be weird”. But I also do believe that the get married, have kids was her version of it. I just took it to mean what I wanted it to mean.
I have had an interesting background of jobs. I’ve been attacked a bit for not having a stable job from strange people. Jobs are generally not important to me beyond having the money to pay for my life. It doesn’t mean I hate my job, it doesn’t mean I’ve had only unimportant jobs. I’ve had jobs I passionately believe in. But in the end, no matter what tasks I do to earn money, I earn the money for my life.
Legal studies was a life changing subject for me. Not because it made me go into law, or want to study law (the opposite, actually) but because it was the first subject in school that taught analysis, not sheer regurgitation of facts and figures. I believe that taking legal studies in year 11 & 12 was key to my success in studying and working in anthropology.
Do you believe we place a focus on the wrong things sometimes – like working longer hours rather than going home and enjoying our lives?
I agree with you Ness. I think we do place too much emphasis on the wrong things sometimes. Yes, work is important, but our loved ones and quality of life are much more valuable. We need to work to live, not live to work. I learned this the hard way and have now structured my work around my personal life and family.
I’m a work in progress with finding my balances, but getting better at it!
Totally agree but for me I often won’t notice until after the fact. As long as a learn a lesson, I’m ok with that
Yep, I’m the same. Plus sometimes you only learn by experience. But when you learn that way, it most often sticks with you more.
ABSOLUTLEY AGREE. Job does not equal passion always. Job can pay for passion. No one will give a shit that you worked in your job for X years when you die. You’ll be thinking about that holiday, that Margherita on the beach in Mexico, and all the cool stuff you did with your loved ones. At least I hope so. As someone who just went part time and have less money but more time, I think time is the most precious commodity of all.
I was (mostly) part time the past two years but I can’t afford it, otherwise I would be!
I think that education is so much more focused on getting a career rather than building a life now. I did Legal Studies in year 11 and 12 as well but I really struggled with the analysis side. I think my teacher was more excited than me when I got a B for the analysis part of an exam after being a steady C for most of the year.
That exact thing happened in my legal studies class haha. People who got A’s and B’s got C’s for the first analysis bit of assessment and the teacher explained how good that is for what is the first time in your life you’re really expected to do that type of thinking and work.
I learned that lesson about the ‘death bed’ when I made a choice to challenge myself totally and become a school principal rather than stay in ‘safety mode’ as a deputy principal. I eventually became emotionally wrung out after 4 years in an understaffed school where I carried too great a load but I never regret ‘giving the role’ the best go that I could. I like your life philosophy! Denyse
I avoided a ‘promotion’ once because it would have meant I was on call 24/7. That did not sound like a promotion to me!
It’s hard to find that balance when you love what you do, like I do!
But do you get as drained from it ?
Couldn’t agree more with you Ness. I learned a similar lesson from studying modern history in high school. I learned to think analytically, research and interpret information, drill down into the many repercussions from a single decision and how we could all learn from the mistakes of the past. Those lessons have served me well throughout my life – I’ll never regret giving up a job I enjoyed for a better lifestyle for myself & my entire family.
It’s something I wish was taught more because it’s incredibly valuable.
What great advice. Doing things in life that you love and gathering people that you love and love you back is probably as important as it gets, no matter what form it takes. I personally am all for the be weird part.
We need more weird 🙂