Real Job

Real job… what is a “real job” anyway? I mean, does flipping burgers at a fast food restaurant count as a real job? Or is a “real job” being labeled with something considered important like a Doctor, a Therapist, or a Teacher? But what if a “real job” is defined by how much money you make? There are doctors, therapists, and teachers who find themselves not making much money at all, do they still qualify as having a “real job” simply because of the title? Or is a “real job” something you have to go to college for? Because if that’s the case, as I mention in my earlier post The College Question, there are several necessary jobs that don’t require going to college and some of them pay quite well. So what is it? What is it that makes one job a “real job” versus another that’s considered a waste of time or a stepping stone to the real thing? 

When someone asks when I’m going to get a “real job” what they don’t understand is that I do, in fact, have a real job. It just might not meet their qualifications of what a “real Job” is which, as mentioned above, I still don’t know what would even qualify anyway… I am a swim instructor. I am also a writer, the House Keeping Manager at a Victorian Bed & Breakfast, I freehand crochet little animals, and I help clean and organize for several people. For the purpose of this blog post I will focus on my being a swim instructor. It is my most steady job, as it was my first job, and I am still doing it several years later and don’t plan to stop anytime soon.

To be a swim instructor I didn’t need to go to college, but I did have to take a course (while going to college.) I don’t have to go to school for years on end, but to be good at my job I have to keep learning new ways to teach year after year. There may have been times I didn’t have consistent work, but everyone I know has been out of work at one time or another. I may not get paid a ton, but, once I found someone to work for who pays me what I’m worth, I get paid quite well for something I enjoy doing and the time I put into it. I’m not a teacher, a doctor, or a therapist, often times I’m all three at once. 

Like a teacher I have to make lesson plans, deal with trouble students, or change my whole plan because that one kid who never pays attention is actually focused today so we’re covering as much as possible. With a normal three hour block of lessons I could be teaching as many as 50 plus kids in one night in three or more different levels and actually remember all of their names, what they’re good at, and what they need work on. I can keep a whole class of 7-12 year old's under control by myself. And every single one of those kids learns differently and I need to know how to modify my teaching to accommodate them.

In addition to being a swim instructor I am also a lifeguard, something else I had to take a class for and keep my certification up to date. In being a lifeguard I am certified in first aid and CPR and need to know how to help someone if they have a problem in the water. Thankfully I haven’t had to deal with any more than a few scrapes or a bumped head when a kid wasn’t paying attention to where they were going, but I am trained in what to do if there is a problem.

While teaching kids how to swim you would be amazed how many times I had to play therapist rather than swim instructor. Figuring out new ways to get them excited about swimming rather than scared, figuring out why they are afraid and helping them through it. One kid actually, quite by accident, called me his Life Coach once (you may remember I wrote a blog post about it) and it certainly is the case quite often. But it applies more so to when I teach adults and autistic kids. Adults who don’t know how to swim are usually afraid of the water for some reason and sometimes it takes a lot of digging, encouragement, and patience to get to the bottom of the issue. Autistic kids usually just need help getting out of their own way. I am happy to say I’ve had more success than failures with both challenges. 

I don’t know if my job qualifies as a “real job” or not. I know it makes me happy, I know it’s a gift God has given me, I know it’s a job God has called me to have. In the end that’s all that really matters isn’t it? In the end I don’t really have a say in the matter anyway, it’s what God is calling me to do so I do it. God doesn’t call us all to have “real jobs,” some of us are called to be the writers, the artists, the swim instructors. And that’s ok. It is for me anyway. So no, I don’t have a “real job” I have many. And I will do my best to glorify God while doing every single one of them to the best of my ability. That, my friends, is what our Real Job is after all, regardless of the pay or the job title.