Why Your Career Does Not Define Your Identity

Let’s have a heart to heart. Our needs and desires for what we want in a career change frequently. And that is so normal! Just as we grow, it’s expected that our dreams will change, too. Are you someone who takes pride in your job title or where you work and what you do? Let me say it again: that is normal as it gets. However, I think it’s important to talk about why that can get really dangerous. Last year is a really prime example of why, too. Whether you or someone you know lost their job due to COVID-19, a lot of people went through a mini identity crisis when they lost their job. This is always a hard circumstance, but when your sense of worth and identity is tied up in your job, it becomes ten times harder because not only do you not have a job, but you also feel lost, confused and sometimes, worthless. 

You are so much more than your career. Yes, you should want to work hard and do well in your career! But, it is not the end all be all. And if work is all you’re striving for, you will find yourself extremely empty at the end of it all. I love what I do and I feel as if this is what I am called to do, but my work isn’t my identity. If my job was taken from me tomorrow, I would still be ME. And that is what is so important! Our careers are not permanent! I am such more than what I do. I am a wife, a mom, a friend, a sister in Christ, and so much more. How do you identify yourself? 

Your job is what you do, it is not who you are. When you have a bad day at work, that does not mean you are a bad person; it means you had a bad day. We need to be able to separate ourselves from our careers or else we will never be able to see ourselves as who we’ve been created to be! Don’t you want to be known for how you loved others well instead of what your job was, anyway? Value the way you treat those around you and yourself before you value the title following your name. I promise you’ll find yourself more fulfilled. And if you feel like you haven’t found where you’re supposed to be working or what you enjoy doing, this is all the more important! I want you to love what you do for your work more than anything, but if you don’t, this is why it’s ok. Because at the end of the day, it is a job. That’s all it is. And there are so many more valuable things about you than what you do from 9-5 every single day. 

You have so many special things going for you. Don’t let one thing about yourself (one thing that could change at any second I might add!) affect you so much.