Career Workshop

T's”. View
Just out of curiosity, I went to the Career Workshop at the high school a few years ago to see what I could be "when I grow up." After a battery of tests, the results pointed to Writer and/or Philosopher. "Writer" I liked, since I've been interested in writing for as long as I can remember. But "Philosopher"? How much demand is there for THAT in the want ads these days? About as much as for a Shepherdess, I'd say. But as I got to thinking about it, I figured we're all Philosophers, in a way. We all have a certain philosophy that carries us through from day to day, and I came to realize that the way we think has a lot to do with the way we cope with life's problems. That's one thing you can always be sure of, no matter where you live, where you work, or who you are— you'll always have some kind of problem. "What!," you say, is that lady telling us there really is no 'silver lining"? Not really...all I'm trying to say is that in this imperfect world of ours, total problem-free living is non-existent and if we can get that into our heads and go on from there, when problems do arrive we won't be floored by them. For some, not having a mate is a problem; for others, the mate IS the problem. For some, their job is what makes them miserable, so they switch jobs and often take on a job that someone else left because it made him or her miserable. For many, the lack of money is a big problem; for those who have it, there's a whole new set of problems—how to invest it, how to hold on to some of it without having to give most of it to Uncle Sam, how to keep the thieves and the greedy at bay. I'm convinced that we can never get rid of problems completely—all we can do is exchange one kind of problem for another. The good news, though, is that we don't have to let them get us down. Trying to drown a problem in drugs or alcohol only gives you a whole new problem to cope with. So what's a person to do? First of all, you can accept the inevitable and not waste time and energy bemoaning the fact that there are problems. Let it become a challenge and dig deep into your inner resources to find a way to solve it. How many "great" men and women came to their greatness precisely because they overcame a serious problem? Also, while things could always be better, we have to remember, too, that they could always be worse Instead of seeing only what's wrong, why not look for what's still right. Someone with a broken arm will most likely not think about all the other body parts that are still working...the other arm, legs, heart, brain, liver, kidneys, eyes, ears, etc. In other words, whether we realize it or not, there's always more that's right than wrong. It's like the picture of a white canvas with a black dot painted in the middle. If you ask people what they see, almost invariably they'll say "a black dot," whereas all the white background is overlooked. Think about that when you're faced with a black dot in your life. - Okay, I got to play philosopher for today. Next week I promise to keep it light.
*Terri the Typesetter T–Views -
 Week of February 5, 1984