Life-enhancing jobs

I was watching “The Sweet Life” of Wilma Doesnt and Lucy Torres-Gomez and though I was not able to catch the start of the show I was able to tune in to their discussion on life-enhancing jobs.

Among their guests are a travel photographer, a blogger / product reviewer, a web and graphics designer and an online seller plus of course an “expert” who if I’m not mistaken is a psychologist or probably an HR practioner. He did say he was connected with “One School”, yep that’s the name of the organization. He said they offer courses that help people find their calling, their “life-enhancing job”.

So what exactly is a life-enhancing job? According to this expert, the trend nowadays is for people to look for jobs not based on compensation alone but on passion. He said that although compensation is of course important, given the economic crisis (was there ever a time when the Philippines was not in crisis? seriously people, was there ever?) it is no longer the end-all and be-all of working and holding on to a job. People are now looking for jobs that they are passionate about, jobs that they enjoy doing, jobs that broaden their horizons or jobs that enrich them as a person.

The travel photographer said that his love for photography has generated a lot of jobs for him. The blogger / product reviewer said he is earning more now with his blogging than before. Aside from getting paid by advertisers on his site, companies constantly send him product freebies for him to test out and write about.

I was in the corporate world for 15 years. I worked for both the government and the private sector but until my last job as a technical sales professional I have not quite found what I was looking for in terms of job satisfaction.

I did love my stint with the government, that’s why I stayed there for 10 years, but something was still missing. I made the jump onto the callcenter bandwagon and stayed there for three years, but still there was a void in me. Sure, I was happy when I made a sale (actually I always made sales), when I receive commendations, when I get responsive emails from my clients but it was not enough.

Aside from the fact that I did not move up the callcenter ladder as fast as I imagined I would, given my credentials, skills, work experience and impeccable English communication skills, the truth is I was not happy where I am. Working at night zaps the life out of me, literally. I really had to drag myself out of our bed and into our car just to go to work. If I had to take the bus or even the MRT, all the more I probably would have dreaded going to work.

So I made the jump off as quickly as I could. I felt I was turning to be a wicked witch by staying on that job. I was always cranky, I quickly blew my fuse everytime, my tongue was sharper than ever and all I could see were the bad things that were happening around me. To say that I hated the world would be the understatement of the century! And because I was not happy, I made other people unhappy with me and I couldn’t care less. A classic example would be my husband. He was always at the receiving end of my sharp tongue and my temper flare-ups.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t turn into a saint overnight even after I have resigned. I still have my temper but unlike before it does not show its ugly head at even the slighest provocation anymore. I have also “re-learned” how to smile and to take life as it comes. I now even have the time to just sit idly by as I watch Barney with my son.

Best of all, I’m just here at home but I still manage to get these.

The amount I got for these writing jobs is peanuts compared to what I was getting before as a salaried employee. But hey, I’m just starting out. The bottomline is a good reputation gets more projects and better pay. Besides, if I can say at home to watch my kid grow and mold him to be the best that he can be AND still earn on the side, woudn’t that be the Sweet Life in itself?