A Break From Working Life
by Sophie—Age 35—Eindhoven, The Netherlands
So here it is, I am taking a break. A break from working life. A break to figure it out. It is not a sad story, it is a choice.
The first job I can remember was a holiday job as supervisor in a summer camp with kids aged six to eight. Quite a responsibility for an 18-year-old. I enjoyed every minute of it: being outside, helping, leading the way, having serious discussions with the kids, playing stupid games with my colleagues…No way was I going to go on further in that direction: living with two teachers as parents will cure you from wanting to be one before you even think of it.
Cut to graduating: good diploma, good grades, and a talent for foreign languages. It opened up a lot of doors. All of a sudden the world at your feet, a lot of possibilities…Too many? What to choose: the job that pays well? The one that challenges most? What about a career that earns you status and recognition? And how on earth can one be expected to make this kind of choices in her early twenties?
Enters: Love. Real one. Dutch one. Great! Another country to get to know, another language to learn, and career opportunities within other borders. I mastered a combination of languages, communications, marketing and media, and within a matter of weeks, there it was: my first job in an advertising agency. Not my vocation, but one of many choices.
More than ten years down the career path. Successful all right, but is this all there is to it? Is this all? Am I actually even enjoying this anymore? Quite honestly: no. So what do you do? Keep on running down profession road? So many others do. No, really, no. I can’t, I won’t. Stop. Take a break. Think about what you want, what you love doing, what your ambitions are and if there are any dreams left. How does working with kids, or teaching look like from here and now? And, is 35 years of age too old to help save the world? Am I more creative than I thought? Should I, could I be a writer, a photographer, a film director?
It feels good to take a break. To think about all this, to figure it out. A break from working life.
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