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???You should be a comedian,??? suggests Bonnie.? ???A Funeral
Director,??? says Jocelyn.? Perhaps I should combine the roles
and open the city??™s funniest funeral home.? ???You??™ll die
laughing!??? could be the slogan, and ???We??™ll never let you
down!??? the guarantee, but I decide to place the idea on the
back burner.
Dave is more subdued.? This is our
fourth day in this workshop, Reassessing Career
Directions, and we have split up into small groups.?
Periodic bursts of laughter come from each room as we share
our stories and offer our suggestions.
Satisfying
accomplishments?
Earlier we had been challenged to
identify our five most satisfying accomplishments.? They
could relate to work, schooling, community activities,
church, sports, hobbies, you name it.? Think about it for a
while.? Describe each achievement in writing.? List the
various skills involved.
So here we are, the four of us, each
telling our stories and reading our lists of related
skills.? The others listen carefully.? The listeners then
identify additional skills, utilized but unrecognized.? Then
come the career suggestions.
???Comedian,??? I regarded as a
compliment.? But ???Funeral Director????? That must have come
from one of my stories.? Even that tragedy had its comic
moments.? We had to laugh, at times, to relieve the tension
and ease the anguish.
How many
women?
Five years earlier, one of my
co-workers had collapsed at home.? He stopped breathing for
too long.? After being resuscitated, he was taken to
hospital.? Soon he was in the Intensive Care Unit.
I then learn he is living with another
of our employees, so I join her at the hospital.? I am
unaware of the fact she is woman #3 in this man??™s life.? His
teenage son soon joins us, along with his mother, woman #1.?
Then another woman emerges in tears from ICU and enters
another waiting area.? Visiting another patient, I presume.?
Wrong.? She is #2, the current legal wife.
This is getting complicated.? Here are
the ex-wife, the estranged wife, the common-law wife, and
the son.? Then the sister and the mother arrive.? Let me out
of here!
Difficult
decisions
But I am needed, and will be for a
while.? Painful barriers have to be lowered.? Difficult
decisions need to be agreed upon.? Gradually we work things
out.? I come to be the one person trusted by all parties.? I
even consent to conduct the anticipated funeral service.
Eventually artificial life-support
systems are disconnected.? But the patient does not die.?
This leads to a whole new crop of complex, interpersonal
problems.? The mediator and confidante would be needed for a
long time to come.
Telling stories
It must have been my role in that drama
that prompted the one career suggestion.? Maybe both, the
way I recounted some of the details.? Tragedy and comedy are
so often intertwined, in life and death.
So maybe I should tell stories when I
grow up, if I ever do.? When I tell stories, some people
laugh, some groan, others simply don??™t get it.? But I enjoy
it anyway.
Enjoyment
and effectiveness?
Enjoying what you do is so important.?
There is such a close correlation between our work and the
health of our hearts.? We are most effective when we are
involved in activities we enjoy.? And when we enjoy our
work, we are more likely to be good at it.
So take the time to identify your most
satisfying achievements.? Analyze them.? See where that
process leads you.
Then define your personal values.?
Compare them with those prevalent in your workplace.? Are
they compatible or do they clash?? When there is a clash,
debilitating stress is inevitable.? That kind of stress
could send you to a funeral home.? But not as a Funeral
Director!
? **********************
Philip Jones
is a motivational speaker and author based in
Calgary, Canada. E-mail:
philip-jones@shaw.ca.? This article is an extract
from his book, How to Fit a Heart Attack into Your Busy
Schedule!? Humor, Wit and Wisdom For a Healthier Heart and a
Happier Life.? Available at www.amazon.com, www.walmart.com
and
www.filbertpublishing.com/heart.htm |
