It's a Job

This is a statement I’ve been hearing a lot recently from my peer group. Now that we are approaching retirement age, we are discovering that we’re not ready or prepared to take this giant step into the AARP world.

I never thought I’d be one of those saying, “It’s a job,” when asked about my work. I have always been one to look at my job in terms of contribution, fulfillment, and adding value to my workplace. I’ve spent the past twenty years pursuing a dream, searching for my bliss, and hoping that whatever I was doing was making a difference to someone besides myself. I’ve been guilty of bragging about my accomplishments and at times getting a swelled head over the importance of my job. Not any more.

After being laid off from a dream job in 2009, my attitude toward work and a paycheck has changed. While I was unemployed, I watched from the sidelines as several of my friends, who had retired with comfortable pensions, enjoyed their leisure time and newfound freedom. While I was simplifying my life in adjustment to leaner days, it seemed that they were out there living it up and living the high life. I was envious, and my skin was turning an eerie shade of green.

Recently, things have changed. I was offered a full-time job (finally!), and re-entered the workforce in a job that has little connection to my experience or education. It isn’t fulfilling or challenging, the pay isn’t great, but it’s a job. The company is a good one, and my co-workers are entertaining and fun to work with. I don’t dread going to work, but I daydream of greener pastures out there somewhere in retirement-land one of these days. I like my paycheck, especially now that I am watching my meager retirement fund vanishing before my eyes with the plunging stock market. I am thankful that I have a job.

What I find to be very interesting, however, is that many of my retired friends are now in job search mode. Evidently, their pensions aren’t enough to support their lifestyles, or retirement isn’t what it was cracked up to be, and they are looking for a job – any job. Every time I get together with high school friends, they ask me about my work, and ask me to keep my eyes and ears out for them. They want a job! And those who are either still working, or have been lucky enough to land something, will inevitably say when I ask them about their work, “It’s a job.”

And at this point in life, it’s enough.