The other week my daughter came home from school with a letter inviting parents to take part in a career morning. We were invited to come and represent our chosen career to the class, who would take a tour of tables in small groups, to let them hear what it’s like working in that ‘industry’.
My daughter was horrified at the thought that I might show up…
“You’re not thinking about it are you? Other parents have interesting jobs, like in the army or paramedics. I don’t even know what you do, but it won’t be interesting.”
Excellent start to an evening. The gift of self doubt and questioning your worth.
I said I would let them know how (strongly) she felt and, if they had enough people, I was happy not to take part, but I’d step up if there wasn’t enough volunteers.
A week later I got the email.
Then she asked, “Which bit of what you do are you going to talk to people about?”
You see I no longer do just one thing as a ‘job’, like I used to. As a self employed person I move and shift, and for that moment I questioned what example I was setting her.
This was until I remembered that when she was little, if you asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would say she wanted to be a post lady.
She wanted to be a post lady because post ladies brought packages that made people happy and she wanted to make people happy (she hadn’t learnt about bills back then…).
More recently, she changed it. It’s now “I want to be a post lady in the morning, and an actress in the evening, and in the afternoon I’ll write and illustrate books.”
So I took a deep breath and asked her which bit of what I do would she like me to cover. I gave her examples of things I could show them, and let her choose. Five minutes later she said, “Well that bit, but everyone will want to do that, so it might take up too much time and what if everyone doesn’t get a go…”
I mention this because it came to mind today, as I sat reading a collection of short stories on a stunningly beautiful small library canal barge on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
It’s OK to not be one dimensional. It’s beautiful to not be one dimensional. Don’t let others try and squeeze you in to a box. Do what feels right for you. I went from not being interesting enough to 'too popular' in the sharing of an idea.
As always, if you are feeling troubled, please consider whether you think you would benefit from getting relevant support. https://helplines.org/helplines/
© Highcroft Writing 2023