What is the meaning of “Working” to me?

“Working” is a new term for me. Everyone tells me that I need to and have to find a job. The working experience is important for academic and future living. However, how can I find a job? What job should I go for? It is confusing me.

In the middle of 2020, I finish my associate degree study at the City University of Hong Kong. Having a long time to be empty and lead me to consider that should I try to find a job to fill the empty? I do not know why I am not going to search it on the internet with a digital CV at that time. But I fail to find it. Every time I walk into the shop that I am interested in, I ask them whether there is any work that I can apply to. They ask me to leave the phone number and wait for the phone call. I have done what they ask for. Unfortunately, none of them give a reply until now. I feel disappointed about it. Even that shop has a poster to ask for the worker, no answer from them. It makes me felt dark on my way to find a job.

Being confuse because of the above experience. I start to refuse to join in any discussion about working. Start to reject on finding a job in the future. However, I know that this kind of thinking is not correct, and we should stop it. I seek the method to change my thought, and narrative therapy is what I need.

Narrative Therapy is a method that can help to isolate a person from the problem that he or she is suffering from (GoodTherapy Editor Team, 2018). We are encouraged to build up a story about the problem. Set ourselves be the ones reading the story. Thinking about any methods that we can use to help the character to overcome the problem. To go with the Narrative Therapy, we are welcome to use different methods to have the story. We can have a map to mapping out the related information, have a diary for future reflection, or have a PowerPoint to list everything clearly (Ackerman, 2020). 

In narrative therapy, there is an emphasis on the stories we develop and carry with us through our lives.(Jodi Clarke, 2020)

I have an interview with one of my friends. Asking his experience on finding a job. He spends 10 years in jobs that he did not like. Learning the knowledge that has no interest in. He learned the knowledge, worked with the knowledge, and found the one that he wants to learn at most. He spent 10 years rolling between different jobs, seeking his target and go for it.  

He went to the university for the subject that he needed for the future job. While he was studying, he lost his job. Bad luck came to him. He was running out of money to support his living and academic. One of his friends told him that there is a short-term job to apply somewhere. Unfortunately, he did not make it. While he was down, the college that he is studying in gave him a chance to have a job! He grabbed the new job tightly and be able to finish it perfectly because of the knowledge that he got it in the past. Therefore, he could support his living well and finished the academic. And in the future 10 years, he was able to work with the job that he was interested in.

From his experience, my concept of “having a job” is changed. While I am in secondary, I always had a concept that we are going to have one long time job in our life. We are going to seek our target while we are at school and having some part-time experience. But in the interview, he was having over 10 jobs in total. He is teaching me to grab all the chances that I can. Do not hesitate to learn anything that you can learn because you will never know will it be useful or not in the future.

After having the interview with him, I feel thank you for his sharing. I can feel that I am doing something for myself now. I am storing as much as knowledge to get well prepared in the future. As he said, “You will never know what is needed for you in the future. You will never know what will happen in the future.”. I am now trying my best to get myself well prepared for the future. It will be great for me to have a part-time job and gain some experience. And, now, while I am still a student, it is the best time for me to try all the things that I am interested in. Maybe one of the interests that I am enjoying now will be my future work, who knows?

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Reference:

• Ackerman, C. M. E. (2020, September 1). 19 Narrative Therapy Techniques, Interventions + Worksheets [PDF]. PositivePsychology.Com. https://positivepsychology.com/narrative-therapy/
• GoodTherapy Editor Team. (2018, June 18). Narrative Therapy. Good Therapy. https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/narrative-therapy
• Jodi Clarke, L. P. C. M. H. S. P. (2020, November 23). Narrative Therapy Overview. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/narrative-therapy-4172956#how-narrative-therapy-helps