Working–When It Works, It’s Beautiful

I heard a replay last weekend of an NPR interview with the late Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue. I was particularly struck by this quote from O’Donohue, who spoke often on leadership and creativity in corporations.

… One of the loneliest things you can find is somebody who is in the wrong kind of work, who shouldn’t be doing what they are doing but should be doing something else and haven’t (sic) the courage to get up and leave it and make a new possibility for themselves.

 Isn’t that just the truth? I’ve been fired twice, both times after jobs that I had been passionate about and put at the center of my universe changed… and no longer were fun. Neither time did I have to courage “to get up and leave it”–so my former employers helped me along. In retrospect, I thank them for that.

I love my current day job. It’s challenging work that I believe in. But I have to think part of the reason I love it is that I’m more fulfilled in my off hours than I once was. The feeling I have about freelance writing and editing for me was captured in another O’Donohue quote:

…(I)t’s lovely when you find someone at work who’s doing exactly what they dreamed they should be doing and whose work is an expression of their inner gift. And in witnessing to that gift and in bringing it out they actually provide an incredible service to us all. … (T)he gifts that are given to us as individuals are not for us alone, or for our own self-improvement, but they are actually for the community and to be offered.

I thank you for accepting the gifts I offer… and for offering your gifts that I gratefully accept.