Friday, October 16, 2015

Post Lesson 4 Work

I started the work at approximately 9:30 and it meant answering a survey about my career and the career I might want to eventually have. I started with information about my current career.

I have always had a love and a certain aptitude for writing, but I had originally planned to upgrade in my studies upon completing high school. However, in the fall of 2007, my mother persuaded me to go apply for the Print Journalism program at Lethbridge College and I ended up being accepted the same day, two days before the beginning of term.

During my time at college, I wrote for and helped produce the Lethbridge College Endeavour and also for the Expressions magazine. For my college practicum, I worked for the Fort Macleod Gazette and that opened the door for me to do the occasional freelance article for them as well as for the Westwind Weekly and Lethbridge Herald over the past several years.

I have covered a variety of stories over the years and have kept a Facebook portfolio of my work, including the briefs of Raymond Town Council meetings I covered before I moved to take the Pathway program. I still get asked to cover the occasional story for the Gazette or the Herald on occasion, but I do not get as much journalism work as I used to. The fact that most journalism in this area is moving to broadcast, internet, and radio format and the local educational opportunities are evolving to meet that demand makes it difficult to stay in the print field, as upgrading skills costs money that is not available.

It was my love of writing that got me started in the journalism career and even if I do not remain in journalism forever, I will still continue to write and I hope to someday publish the novels I am currently working on, having already self-published a poetry book that sold a few copies locally. If I do not stay in the field of journalism for whatever reason, I would like to be in a career that involves writing because I have such a passion for being creative and writing is an easy way for me to express my ideas and my thoughts in a way that can be understood.

In the field of journalism, everyone defines success differently, but one cannot be successful in this field unless they have a passion for writing, getting information to others, and/or putting themselves out there so that others may benefit from what you have to offer.

With the evolution of technology and the fact that people are relying more and more on it in order to deliver and/or receive current news, print journalism is evolving. Because of this evolution, less print media is being produced and it is being turned into media that can be accessed online because more and more people are becoming interested in what can be found online instead of what can be found in print. Some media sources have evolved their publications to keep up with the demand and are slowly phasing out print publications as they do not appear to be as popular as they were before the evolution of technology and the accessibility to online news increased dramatically. If I do not change careers or upgrade my skills to keep up with the changing technology, my skills will become obsolete in the journalism field.

I am currently taking Pathways with the intention of pursuing an online degree after this year is complete because I would like extra credentials in addition to my diploma in Communication Arts even though it meant giving up a steady freelancing job in the field and the income that came along with it. Money has been tight for my family ever since my dad passed away and though the freelance income was not very much, it helped because I used my disability pay and the freelance income to help with bills, pay rent, buy what we needed to survive.

Even though I gave up a bi-weekly freelancing job and the income so that I could move to get to Pathway gatherings easier, I knew that gaining additional skills and eventually a degree would help me be able to get a better , more steady job, even with the disability that I have, and possibly be able to make more money than I make at freelancing.

Having any sort of degree would be beneficial to finding work, as I have dual citizenship and the documents needed to live and work in both Canada and the United States and even in the current economy, people with experience, skills, and some sort of degree are more likely to find steady, well-paying work than those with none of those things.

Even though I could have remained in the job where I was, I took the risk of enrolling in Pathway because I believe that I can not only finish Pathway, but also get a degree that will help me to find a job where I can either use my journalism skills or where I can not only use my current skills, but learn new skills in order to do a job that is not journalism, but requires the same skill set. I have great faith I will find what I need to find.

Journalism has been a way to not only feed my love of writing and the desire to be published, it has also allowed me to use one of the best gifts that God has given me in order to satisfy the need for information that people have and also a sense of gratification that people get when they are the subject of a story I have written.

My journalism experience gives me something to share with others that will help them to become interested in what they do not know about me and by allowing others to get to know me through my journalism, I may open the door for more personal relationships to develop from the interpersonal ones that come as a result of people taking interest in my work. When personal relationships come to pass in my life and develop, I learn more about myself and what I am capable of becoming as a child of God and as someone trying to make the most of mortality while the time is there.

I also have an interest in being involved in a career of working with youth, children, or families to help them be able to eventually help themselves because I like helping others be able to make something of themselves. Because of my disability, a lot of people thought and openly expressed that I would amount to very little and nobody should bother with investing time or patience into helping me succeed. However, there were people like my mother who disregarded this counsel and did everything they could to help me succeed, teaching me that the world was not going to adapt for me and that I needed to adapt to the world so that I could live in it.

Not everyone has someone in their lives to uplift and make them feel as they are worth time and effort, however, and they often make bad choices to express their feelings of worthlessness and to also try and find a place in the world where they fit in. Having been treated like I am worthless by others simply because of my disability and because of the fact that I came from a part-member family that included an alcoholic father, I do not enjoy seeing others suffer because people around them feel they have the right to judge others because of their circumstances or differences and I desire to use my past experiences to help them know that their circumstances or differences do not have to define who they can become.
According to the Alberta Information Learning Service website's (alis.alberta.ca) Occupational Profile for Child and Youth Care worker, those in the field make an average of $21.00 per hour while working an average of 33.7 hours per week from what the the 2013 Alberta Wage and Salary Survey outlines. There is a need for Child and Youth workers in this area, but most jobs in the field ask for not only a diploma or degree in Child and Youth Care or a similar field, but also experience working in the field for a set time and if, with my learning/social disability, I managed to get credentials and work in this field, I would make the necessary budget in order to make whatever salary came with the job fit with my particular lifestyle.
Lethbridge College has a two-year diploma program in the field of Child and Youth Care, but the program is very expensive and I cannot afford to take it locally if I should want to get into that field. The BYU-Idaho Online program has a Bachelor's degree program in Marriage and Family Studies and also a certificate program in Home and Family Studies that are very affordable and easy to pursue after finishing Pathway. If I were to take one of those programs along with having my journalism diploma and computer skills, I could work in either an office or in the field in this profession.

Where I can take such a program is currently limited because I am not only on disability pay that allows me to be out of Alberta for a maximum of six months at a time, I am also helping my mother financially while she attends a local vocational college to take a program to teach her skills essentials to working in an office, as her income is very small. Once my mother is in a financially stable position, I can perhaps look at education that is in other places than this area, but until that happens, I am happy to pursue what education I can.
There is a need for Child and Youth workers in this area, but most jobs in the field ask for not only a diploma or degree in Child and Youth Care or a similar field, but also experience working in the field for a set time, as employers in the field want to ensure that workers know what they are doing because people and their situations are the most volatile things that can be worked with and have to be handled with caution more often than not. I do not currently have the necessary education and by the time I do, those jobs might not be available in this area anymore, so I may have to relocate in order to find work in the field. I have a license and could either get a vehicle or utilize public transportation if needed, so I would be willing to move to wherever I needed to in order to pursue a career and allow it to grow in a way that I can be of most help to others.
Whenever I have the opportunity to help others, I find myself getting to know people through the service I give them and I sometimes make friends depending on how well we connect through the exchange of personal information. As I serve and get to know people by helping them, I come to love and have compassion for them and whatever situation they are in and that brings forth a sense of charity. It is often very hard for me to trust people and to open up if I don't know others well and I often try to reach out first to try and get rid of that barrier, but it is sometimes the other person making me feel welcome that helps me to develop a sense of compassion for them and a desire to help them. When I help people and receive love as a result of their gratitude, it helps me to know that I am appreciated and my contributions are worthwhile.

If I were in a career where I could do something to help others be able to help themselves, I would feel as if I was teaching myself compassion for others and their situations and by sharing my experiences with those I help, I would also be able to show others that their circumstances do not have to define their choices and that just because their circumstances may be bad, it doesn't mean that they have to make poor choices. I could teach others that good choices more often than not allow circumstances to slowly change, even if the change is only within themselves and does nothing for their temporal situations.

Took a break at about 10:40 and resumed work at 10:50. I took another break at 11:51.

I then responded to posts on the discussion board.

1. It may be difficult to balance the demands that come from our temporal and spiritual lives, but the Lord does not give us revelations or open the door to opportunities without providing a way in which we will be able to do what He has given us. Time is such a commodity and there is so little available to us, yet we are given so much to accomplish in this life. Therefore, we need to set priorities and also stay close to the Spirit, as it will guide us in what we need to do and how we need to do in order to be successful. Life may seem very overwhelming with all that we have to accomplish with the short amount of time that we have, but the Spirit will help us be able to know what is truly important and the Atonement enables us to do what is truly important.

2. In terms of principles of intelligence, God gives us different degrees of intelligence, which are different levels of knowledge, both in this life and in the life we have after death. He does this when we make ourselves open and take enough courage into ourselves to act in faith, thereby letting ourselves be ready for new experiences that come as a result of applying knowledge to agency.

Lifelong learning is not limited to this life, but we need to practice our knowledge of the next life that we get now through temple ordinances and through other experiences so that we can be prepared to enter the next life when it comes our time to leave mortality. If we believe we can learn, we will want to and that if we put effort into learning, we will find things that interest us and interest in a particular facet of knowledge can serve as motivation for us to keep learning.

3. Even if others tell you that your goal is unrealistic and that you should focus on achieving a lower goal that is more realistic to who you should want to become, don't listen to them. Life is not about becoming what others expect of you and doing what others tell you to do; it is your life and you are the one that has to live your life, others just watch it unfold.

Passing up opportunities to grow in positive ways just because people tell you it's a foolish dream is being foolish and by being willing to surrender dreams because people don't believe in you is telling people that you are willing to be a doormat without ambitions forever. Many people thought Christ was crazy for defying public expectation and doing what He had the faith and compassion to do, but He ended up giving Himself to the world so that people would not die in their sins. Because of Christ, we can and should make the most of the life and time we have.

I took another break at 12:15.

No comments:

Post a Comment