professionalism |prəˈfeSHənlˌizəm| nounthe competence or skill expected of a professional • the practicing of an activity, especially a sport, byprofessional rather than amateur players
I run across many types of people in my circle. My every day life easily flows between a professional and amateur world and I must appreciate both in order to be successful. Its an interesting life, an interesting culture, and I'm regularly intrigued by the people around me. Sometimes I'm annoyed by stupid people, but that doesn't negate my fascination with them. It quite possibly escalates my curiosity (unless I'm super busy, or hormonal, or sleep deprived). There are a few people I've been recently been dealing with who seriously need a throat punch, but I'll save that for another day! Today we are taking a look at the "journey to professionalism" where throat punching could be a serious obstacle.
My lengthy struggle to understand whether I could be considered a professional or not began in my 20s- post-college. My confusion came with the fact that I threw my entire life and skill set into a church organization right after graduation and marriage. It was something I loved and enjoyed, but it was completely voluntary i.e. without pay. There was very little realization by those around me of my competence, partly because #1. I was a female (not even kidding that this was an issue), #2. I was in my 20s (young and dumb? definitely rough around the edges), #3. I started having children at 23 (pregnancy didn't stop me from anything, but it held others at bay), and #4. I chose to walk humbly along (most of the time), offering my time, energy and expertise, purely as an offering to God.
Years later, after gaining tons of experience, some maturity, and depth on many, many levels, my world is very different. It took a long time for me to understand my true value in the professional world. It took a few run-ins and "misunderstandings" to see the vast difference in MY sense of professionalism in comparison to certain others who were being paid for a job but proving very incompetent for the position. While this realization was going on for me, it felt like an injustice to see employer-types settling for crap. I was dumbfounded and outraged even, but I would look for ways to (voluntarily) support and help, just to be sure the product was decent in the end. But to see the incompetence continue was enough to finally push me over the edge, into the professional world. It was time to express my desire to be hired for jobs and produce something better. And so I was. It felt great. It still feels great. Many times its a road of stress and anxiety, but I'm learning how to relax. I will never be quite as good as I want to be, however, the people who hire me LOVE my work, both my dedication and the quality. They see that I have a way with people and have great productivity, so, that has helped me to be ok with myself and actually be proud of my work.
The process of becoming who I am today is real. Its tangible. Its interesting (if only to me). I'm captured with people's progression in life. I've learned to be patient and believe that God makes His way into the hearts of His children--through the good times and through the bad.
I have prospects for the future that keep my path in an ever-unpredictable state. It continues to be challenging and never the same, year after year. I would get bored and complacent. That's who I am and how I'm wired. I am reliable and consistent, but also open to change, as life unveils the next step.
What's your story?
