All jobs are stressful in one way or another. I want to highlight two different types of jobs that are known to be extremely stressful, yet we see people pursuing them every day.

Care workers often have a tough time. Long, unforgiving hours, a lot offering low pay, and often they are physically demanding. Similarly, youth offending jobs are never going to be easy. You are working with a lot of the time volatile youths who are troubled, and believe the world has turned their back on them. Yet what these two roles have in common, is that the satisfaction level of when you are able to genuinely and sustainably help a person is the most rewarding type of satisfaction a job can offer. In regard to social care, it may be that you are allowing to create an atmosphere where you are able to bring back someone’s confidence and/or independence to perform certain tasks. Or just simply making someone else’s life a lot easier to live than it would be without the help you can offer.  While working with young offenders can allow you to help someone onto the right path early on in life, rather than allowing their offences to escalate further. Seeing someone change from a dangerous path to a much more positive path is extremely satisfying especially when knowing you had some role to play in putting them on it.

Secondly, and completely different, we have the world of chefs and kitchens. Often, these sort of roles are on or close to the minimum wage, the hours are antisocial, and the work is physically demanding. One of the reasons people pursue this sort of job is due to the size of their passion for food, and creating something of their own. It is also simply put, very different from many other working environments, and can be great for those who want to break the monotony of a nine to five job. The high level of stress for most professional chefs is just seen as another work colleague, and for some is what helps drive them. Just like the examples before, it is clear this job is not for everyone, just for very different reasons.

The purpose of highlighting these are to show two general trends that are worth considering when choosing a career path. Firstly, the importance of helping others, and how this can help you, and be a much more thorough motivator to work than money ever can be. Secondly, we see the importance of chasing your own passion. Working as a chef is an obvious example, but is not limited to this. There are many careers that may seem daunting, due to low pay, stress, and/or the hours expected; but if you find a true passion of yours, this will keep you motivated more than any pay packet.