When I started in this profession, I was told by coworkers that this was *a calling.*

I got all sorts of these messages.

My calling is to be an SLP.

I couldn't be anything else.

It's my life's work to be an SLP.

This is the most noble profession in the world. (Ahem.)

But you know what the truth is?

When it comes to our field, being an SLP isn't my reason for living. I've got some other really great reasons for that, but articulation therapy isn't one of them. Neither is doing paperwork. Is my job satisfying? Absolutely. Is it my passion? No.

Wait, what? Don’t I get to help people every day? Isn’t this the US News and World Report’s best job ever created since medieval times?* Shouldn’t I be following around my passion like an energetic puppy dog at every moment? Shouldn't I turn my paycheck back into my bosses and say "uh, no. Thank you for the pleasure of doing this work! No payment required!" and skip out into the horizon (towards the setting sun or the rainbow)?

Um, nope.

Where's the Passion?

My job isn’t my passion. I don’t bound out of bed every morning excited to go to work. I don’t wish on Sunday night that I could just have one more workday a week because work feels like play. My passion actually includes a lot of other stuff I do in my unpaid time. Those are called my hobbies. And I love them.
Passion Outside the 9 to 5

Let’s stop expecting our day job to have every single thing we want out of life and make us feel passionate all the time.
Let’s start working less and spending time on our passions and hobbies more.
If your work setting isn’t what you want it to be – can you start a business? Get another job? Try another setting?
If you really are passionate about something that can earn you money – can you start a side hustle and keep your day job?
There are so many options out there.
Expecting your job to be your everything isn’t one of them.

*Actual classification