Wednesday, February 19, 2014

What do you do?

It's a common question that comes up frequently in polite conversation. "What do you do?" The answer is much more complex than you would expect. I still don't know what the right answer is, or if there even is one in my case. What I do know is what I DON'T do and what I DON'T want to be called.

I don't sit in an office all day. I no longer occupy a cube and do mind numbing repetitive tasks day in and day out. I no longer feel that my creativity is squelched. I also do not have a steady income and a weekly or biweekly pay check I can count to be there consistently. I guess you can't have it all. Was it worth giving up the security of a promised amount of cash in my bank account every other week? For me it absolutely was.

I am a small business owner. I am an Etsy seller. I am shop owner, designer, head stitcher and unstitcher, rotary cutter queen, princess of quilting and goddess of binding at Lulu Belle Quilts. I am chief egg gatherer and secondary rooster disciplinarian at Thaddeus Farms. I am chief financial officer of our family's finances. I am primary pig wrangler on days Edgar gets frisky and escapes. I am director of bovine health and happiness as well as mistress of sweet feed distribution. I am in charge of hay rationing and some days I herd cats, literally. I am subject to every whim of a sweet bulldog. I am rabbit food intake manager and duck water analysis. I am the primary cuisine developer for our home and I make a mean macaroni and cheese and a pretty amazing peach preserve. Oh yeah, and I attempt to blog.

SO I do all of those things. For those of you that want a simple answer, don't expect me to say sewer. A sewer is where poop and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live, not what I do for a living. I like quilter but when I say quilter I think most people get a mental picture of an 80 year old lady with little round spectacles on the bridge of her nose sitting in a rocking chair hand stitching. That is definitely not what I do. I recently learned the word "Sempstress" which is an old word for one who sews. I like it. It sounds sassy, like me, and it's a little different. If I had to put one word on a business card it would probably be this one and then I could explain to everyone else what it means, which or course I would love because it means I would get to talk more.

But really when you think about it, "What do you do?" can mean so many things. I think people tend to look at it as a simple question meaning "What do you do for a living?" or "What is your job?" Does what we do to make money really make us who we are? Is being an engineer or a dancer or a doctor what defines you as a person or is it what you do when you are not at work? I would hazard to say that most of us don't define ourselves as what we do to make money but as much more than that. I just feel lucky that what I do for a living as well as what I do as a person can not be whittled down to a one word response. I like to think I am a bit more complex and interesting than that.

5 comments:

  1. A question we should all ponder and remember that we are not just a one word definition no matter who we are or what we do.

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  2. Haha pig wrangler sounds like the coolest job ever !! Great post :)

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