Advanced Essay #3: What's The Best For You?

Vivian Pham

Mr. Block

English 3

March 9th, 2018

Introduction:

My goals for my paper was to help the audience understand two sides of what goes into self realization and self reflection in the terms of deciding what career or job is best suited for oneself. A person’s future is way too important to not think about or not realize what goes into crafting a life in this toxic society. And I wanted to capture what many people don’t realize about their own thoughts, there are a lot of subconscious thoughts that goes into how our minds work. Some areas of improvement would probably be to decrease the word count of my essay as a whole and work on making sure that all brainstormed ideas are fully incorporated.

Advanced Essay:

Many are completely dumbfounded by how society subconsciously controls their career goals and decisions that they had for themselves. We need to come a realization that there are a lot more at stake when finding a career/job than how much the job pays. Although many fail to realize, everyone has control over their decisions but are continuously classifying whether it’s “acceptable” by society. All attention should be geared towards their mental, physical, and emotional capabilities when deciding what jobs are best suitable to take on.

Once we start to think for ourselves about what’s best for us, we start to comprehend certain factors that makes us happy. We must disregard all judgement provided from others. This doesn’t make us selfish, this makes us mindful, capable, and secure enough to guide ourselves through all career related obstacles.  Observations are being made wherever we go, Ryan Etis had a lesson to be taught to an audience of 400 high school students at an event to teach about careers and manufacturing.

“I watched closely as they settled in, full of potential and possibility. I had been thinking about this 30 minutes for a while. I had a goal. Maybe it was more of a hope or desire. I wanted to be that defining moment for one young person today. To pay it forward. To ignite something inside someone else that becomes the catalyst for change.”

Ryan wanted to make a difference, although he didn’t know any of the students personally, he knew that he wanted everyone to take away from his lesson that they can become a “catalyst for change.” He viewed inspiration as a defining factor in society, given that he found his own inspiration from Jim Rohn, who “...saved me. I had never been exposed to that kind of thinking. I went for the free happy hour, but didn’t anticipate a night that would become a defining moment in my life. I walked out fully committed to begin my life transformation. The learning has never stopped.” In college, Ryan felt uninspired, he found himself realizing things about himself that he seemed to not have control over. He had to take many steps to find his true potential, and to pass on that process onto the younger generation.

Being genuinely happy with a career that not only challenges you to do better is much more satisfying rather than the opposite. As individuals we owe it to ourselves to have our own direction in what we decide for ourselves, and how we associate our happiness and success.

The most common job in this industry belongs in the setting of a restaurant. In many cases, our mental and emotional abilities are challenged the most. Although it might not seem like the most hardest job in the world, it takes certain people to adapt to this type of work. Christina Druen wrote an article discussing the process of her first job and the influences that came from that.

“Working as a waitress has helped me develop life skills that years of schooling never did. In school, presentations scared me, and they still do to this day. However, give me 3 or 4 groups of people to talk to and teach them something, I will eat it up. By working as a waitress, I have learned so much about myself, and about relationships. I have learned that I am amazed by what customers have to say.”  Not only did she learn the physical skills when it came to the specificity of the job like managing money and engaging with leadership skills, she learned how to personally break out of her shell of uncomfortability that she never thought she would overcome.

However, the restaurant job hasn’t given everyone a positive experience, Lucy Murrey writes about her experience, “The restaurant had pretty distinct cliques and a tangible hierarchy associated with them. Most notably were those who had been working at the restaurant for years who resided at the top of the pyramid, crowning themselves above a sea of nomads: the college kids who would pop back in every so often, the high schoolers who were harmlessly picked on, and then the miscellaneous, ever-changing group of people who, from the moment they were hired, had everyone placing bets on how long they’d last.”

She realized immediately that working in a restaurant had its own set of societal distinctions. Expectations were contrived before new workers would come in, she described the environment as a “tangible hierarchy.” Depending on the workers’ age or social background, the whole purpose of this business was that their positions weren’t permanent. She talked about how people would place bets on each other to see how long they’ll “last,” already assuming that they can’t handle it. But yet, others still continue to work in such manners, not taking into account that this is harmful to their emotional being.

A vast majority of adolescent teens starts off their years diving into the world of business. They are oblivious to how the world works, it’s common for them to automatically gravitate towards pursuing a career that they notice family members take on. That shouldn’t be the only purpose to decide a career, Cheri McBride discusses her experience with her family business,

“Cheri McBride, now 65, was just a kid in 1951 when her parents opened up a jewelry store called Nowlin Jewelry in Lake Jackson, Texas, a Dow Chemical factory town that sprung up in the 1940s. As she grew up, she saw how hard her parents worked—staying up late or spending weekends doing paperwork—to make it a success. That was why, when it came time to go to college, McBride, who goes by the nickname "Duckie," couldn't wait to get out of town. "I wanted to be the world's greatest artist," she says. "And I honestly think my parents hoped I would find a job with nice benefits."

Success in her eyes rose from how she saw her parents work at a young age. She observed how hard they would work and the amount of time they would spend throughout time. After college, she had a goal based off of her parents’ work ethic, her desire to be “the world’s greatest artist.” She soon found herself not reaching that goal and began to take over her family’s business, but “the third generation of the Nowlin family told their parents they didn't have any interest in taking over the business. That's why four years ago, McBride and her brother decided to sell off their entire inventory and close the business down after 50 years of operations.” It seemed easier said than done when it came to taking over her family business, but she knew that this business couldn’t continue simply because she wasn’t passionate about it.

Once again, Christina speaks about her influences growing up in regards to important people in her life, “I was 15 when I started. I had just started high school. I didn’t know who I was yet. Although I’ve always had a good head on my shoulders, I was still influenced by others that were older than me. I wanted nothing more than to be friends with all of them. Because I was the baby of the crew, they all took care of me. They were there with me through all my successes in high school and even now in college.”

She felt that she had this obligation to stick to this job because of the people that supported her every step of the way. This shows that certain working environments provides teenagers of this generation an invitation to following in the footsteps of others, simply because of their age and their experiences. Living off of someone else’s lifestyle is something that people tend to do, without realizing, it can definitely cause major restrictions on their lives.

There are so many constraints on life itself when it comes to expectations that we have to live up to. From family members, close inspirations, and societal impacts we have control over anything involving our self decisions and self discoveries.  It takes courage to admit to themselves that a huge part of their lives are under the control factors aside from their own. We all need to dig beneath the surface instead of scratching it. This establishment of happiness is something we all need to take into account. Everything is a learning experience whether it be a positive or negative one, taking away something from a job experience into the course of life. Success should be something that others work towards and aim for for themselves, and taking all steps necessary to help them achieve their full potential.

Bibliography:

Dahl, Darren. “Succession Stories: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” Inc.com, Inc., www.inc.com/articles/201103/succession-stories-keeping-the-business-in-the-family.html

“How My First Job Changed Me.” The Odyssey Online, 28 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/how-my-first-job-changed-me

“3 Defining Moments That Shaped My Life.” Ryan Estis, 2 Nov. 2015, www.ryanestis.com/leadership/3-defining-moments-that-shaped-my-life