To Youngsters Agonizing Over a Career Path:

Choose a career you're passionate about, have a degree of natural talent in & something that pays a salary you can live with, not what your family or community want you to do.  You're the one who will have to wake up & go to said job every day of your life until retirement, not them. 

More specifically, stop going into helping professions (teaching, nursing, firefighting, social work, physical/occupational therapy & counseling) if you don't intend to help.  If your #1 focus is money* & you really don't have the empathy or patience necessary to deal with vulnerable populations, find another career path.  If your "help" is thinly veiled love-bombing or martyring in an attempt to get narcissistic supply & look like a hero...  If you're weaker or less stable than the people you're trying to help...  If you secretly despise the less fortunate & use them to feel superior or fulfill a rescue fantasy.  FOLLOW THE $$$ AND GO.  There are far more lucrative fields that don't require you to interact with the poor, feeble-minded, sick & needy.  

  *Money is the #1 reason everyone works so demand to be paid what you're worth regardless of what you do.  But for some people money is the sole focus of their lives, symbolizing success, power & immortality--the reason they get up in the morning, the #1 must-have on their ideal partner list & so on.  If you don't have it, they don't consider you their equal & nothing you say or do will change that.  They may not tell you so to your face, but you'll find out in other ways, such as when they're pushed to the breaking point at work & have one of those lovely "mask slip" moments.  (And these moments are happening increasingly often as workers are expected to take on the workload of multiple employees for less pay).  That's not an excuse, it's just a fact. 

That's why truly being passionate about your career is so important.  You may not always like your co-workers, boss or the way things are run, but if you at least enjoy the mission and focus of the work itself, that can be your saving grace.   Meanwhile, if the people above you on the food chain are making your life unlivable, take it up with them.  Organize with coworkers & try to negotiate to get what you're worth, or simply work on setting healthy boundaries & saying 'no' to extra work.  Demand to be treated with respect or leave relationships, be they platonic or romantic.  This is how efficient, bad-ass bosses run their lives.

Whatever you have to do, it's not acceptable to take your frustration and rage out on those with less power who don't deserve it:  your kids, wife, clients, students, loyal friends, patients, employees, pets or others who did nothing wrong.  That's gutless & cowardly & solves nothing.  You may have absolutely valid points but you invalidate them the minute you choose to lash out at innocent bystanders.  You may even be a victim of abuse yourself, verbal or otherwise, but you cease to be a victim the moment you turn your pain into rage & dump it on someone who did nothing wrong.  Now you're just another victimizer.  

Punching down:  Cycle of pointless violence

If you can't help someone, that's understandable.  You're human.  But at least endeavor not to hurt them.  And thank you to those rare few who truly do care, not because you're paid to pretend you do but because you have compassion, want to pay it forward & make the world a better place.  Don't forget to take care of yourselves too.   🌏🩺🚒