Ha! Here I was last week, saying I don't want to get a job, and now I've been hired on a short term, part-time contract for some basic social media management. It's funny how life works out sometimes. It's some super easy work, pretty good pay and I can go right back to government money once they stop paying me out in 6 weeks. It's a little funny that the organization I'm working for is a Cultural/Religious Community, that I only tangentially belong to and have never had any intentions of participating in. In big part because having grown up in a multitude of immigrant communities of the city, I'm too aware of how toxic it can all get very quickly. As someone integrated in Canadian/Quebecois society, I don't feel the need to find belonging with people from my origins. And these social spaces while useful and reassuring to new immigrants, to me feel claustrophobic and disingenuous. In their aim to help and support newly arrived people, they often also trap them in a bubble, an alternate reality of our society. Not to mention my lack of belief in their religious convictions. But... this organization seems sincere in their ambition to help, have places for kids and adults to meet and find community, learning opportunities, good deeds and all that. I don't mind doing this work for them, I feel it's not my place to judge anyone's beliefs and everyone I have met so far seem very nice. I just feel a little guilty for being an outsider I guess? While i'm helping them, I'm motivated by money and would not be doing any of it otherwise. I'm not very used to work on things that I'm not passionate about, where I have a detachment from the work. I think it can be a good experience - being very emotionally involved with my work is my usual thing, and it can affect my mood in other aspects of my life. Maybe i'll find out a little distance is good? Maybe i'll hate it? Let's see how this goes! I'm just a little... offended? when my mom was proud of me for getting this job. I feel i'm massively over-qualified, and am doing much harder and more meaningful things with the non-profit. I don't make money - but that's a choice, not that I don't think I can land a job at some corporate office and start earning. This work is almost like supermarket-level grunt work for my industry, and it just confirms to me she doesn't really understand what I do or who I am or what I value :(
Haha close - but not quite. I’ve actually met my current boyfriend 8 years ago when I worked as a councilor at a religious Ukrainian summer camp - and the priest there is really cool. I went to that camp as a kid, and protested all religious ceremonies because I was a little shit and he never had any problems with it. He’s a super accepting dude, that doesn’t care about other people’s beliefs as long as we provide a wholesome space for the kids. But this gig is for another religious group I don’t belong to ;) I don’t think they care about me being secular - they even said to me most immigrants are. But for sure the specifics of my wild lifestyle would be frowned upon. If I can hide those specifics from my parents, my employers are unlikely to find out. Can’t wait for the mini-satanic ritual we have planned tonight with some friends in celebration of Halloween 😈
Ya know what... I see this ALL the time! The best work is done by someone agnostic; someone outside the institution/culture who is good at what they do, and is motivated by money rather than duty. My most successful(?) client of my marketing agency was a chiropractor. I am absolutely sure that chiro is quackery and not backed by any legitimate science. But, he and I took his business from a one-man office on the second floor of a generic office building, to a brand new ground floor floor-to-ceiling-widowed corner office, in a prime location, with four other chiropractors on staff, two massage therapists, and two receptionists, all working full-time. He eventually sold the business at a HUGE profit, retired, moved to Canada with his family, and built a brand new home. And from day 1 I was sure what he did was as useful as essential oils and crystals. (Which was, incidentally, the exact business of another very successful customer I had.) Do the work. Do it well. Get paid. Move on. Your PASSION is the non-profit. What you do for MONEY is whatever people pay you for. It doesn't define you. It doesn't own you. You provide an excellent service at a good price, and give people value. Then you move on. That's winning, in my book! (And hey... if your Mom likes it too, double bonus. No need to dig in to WHY she likes it. She does. Take that win.) "It's a little funny that the organization I'm working for is a Cultural/Religious Community, that I only tangentially belong to and have never had any intentions of participating in."
In fact, I take more pride in the work I did for clients that I DIDN'T vibe with... because it showed that I actually had a serious set of skills that could work for anything (and therefore i could charge more for them), rather than just being able to do good work for friends who I liked.