On the 24th October, we delivered an interactive workshop to help young people find their motivations in life.
Young Leaders from EthosVO joined forces with National Youth Agency to deliver the ‘Finding your Why’ workshop, aimed at encouraging young people to ‘dig deeper’ into their personal aspirations.
Here is my story, of how I searched the job market to find my why.
HOW I found my why – trial and error!
It was not that simple! My goals and passions have changed drastically over the years. They change as I change and grow, so I‘ve learnt to adapt my ambitions and goals as time goes on so I’m never stuck in a boring job with no meaning.
I’ve always been active in environmental charities and animal rights groups, which I knew were subjects that I actually cared about. And I’ve always loved arts and crafts , but never thought I’d push these actively in a paid job because I didn’t think they were common enough like for paid roles.
After the pandemic hit in 2020, I had no job options and no money so I had to work at a covid test site, which gave me training that was useful for finding further jobs in the building construction industry. And even though this went on to really help me financially for the time being because it was so well paid, as time went on… I realised how un-impactful my day to day life was to the ‘bigger picture.’ It just felt like I was wasting my time, even though I was earning really good money, I wasn’t impacting the world and I wasn’t doing any of my interests or passions, it just felt like I was a rat stuck in the rat race.
During this, I was working at building sites in temporary roles between getting Universal Credit. Then when I was out of work at one point, I was told by my work coach at the job centre that there was this company called ETHOS that worked without hierarchy and the company’s purpose was all about helping people rather than gaining profit.
I instantly felt that that was the job I wanted to do, even though it paid a lot less, it fitted perfectly with my ambitions and morals. Once I started at Ethos, I realised just how excited I was to do work! I’d literally never had that before. Just because I’d finally found a job that actually interests me, I finally felt excited to wake up in the morning and get stuck in to work.
Why is a WHY needed?
This was the opposite of working at the building sites because I felt like I wanted to die every morning and I was there only to make money with no bigger purpose. I started to realise I was buying pointless stuff all the time just to fill the hole which was my boring unsatisfying job. I didn’t even want any of the stuff I was buying but I realised it was only because I was so bored everyday, and felt so lost in my day to day job so without an exciting hobby or club I just kept trying to fill that hole.
This is why I really NEEDED to find my why because it was slowly chipping away at my mental wellbeing – doing a job that I really hated for 8 hours of every day, in the winter depression can really take over when all you do is work each day until sunset.
Where to go next?
I was lucky enough to find a job that really fitted with my morals so I could get paid at the same time, which can be really hard to find. but there are so many other options in life that could help you find your purpose that make each day really exciting rather than just mundane effort.
I found my true why way back when I was a kid because I knew that animals and the environment were the most important things to me. This is why I have done a lot of volunteering in my life which has helped me massively in finding avenues into opportunities in areas I’m interested in.
Maybe you have already found that thing that gets you passionate to make an effort?
Maybe you know that some things captivate you whilst other things are hard to retain.
Or maybe you have no bloody idea what you want to be doing in this world, but that’s ok!
Just keep trying new things and follow your ambitions. The more things you try the more likely to find something you love. And most jobs won’t give you fulfilment other than just money, so try volunteering, joining clubs and groups and keep trying out lots of different hobbies. To try and find what makes you excited to get on with your day to day life.