Being a mother is the toughest job in the world, and the hardest part comes just when you think it should finally be getting a bit easier. How do you advise your adult child when it comes to life choices? Do you steer them towards fulfillment, or do you preach to them about security?
My parents were were both very gifted, creative people, who never gave a whole lot of thought to the distant future. Dad was an extremely talented home designer and builder, and absolutely adored what he was doing, but our life was a roller coaster because of it. There were times when we were living the country club life, with mink stoles and one-of-a-kind cars bought off the showroom floor at the state fair. Then, there were times when we had cars being repossessed, or phones being disconnected, or had run out of notebook paper for school and Mom couldn't scrape up enough change to buy us more. Needless to say, security and stability have been pretty high on my priority list ever since.
So, what do you do when you see that one of your kids is headed down a similar path? Do you continue to encourage them to seek creative fulfillment, no matter how many times the rug gets swept out from under them? Or, do you get down on your knees and beg them to find a nice, safe, secure job with benefits, no matter how soul-sucking it is?
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3 comments:
soul-sucking jobs suck...21 yrs experience...
I advised my daughter to seek creative fulfillment. I've been everywhere from down-and-out to well-off; and I've known people who were very poor, and people who were very wealthy, and everything in between. Extreme poverty sucks, but as long as you have water, food, shelter, and at least moderately good health, one can be just as happy with almost no money with millions.
The only thing I really fret about is her keeping good health insurance. That $400/mo. COBRA payment is a killer, if you also want to eat and pay rent.
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