Work gives you meaning and purpose, and life is empty without it. (Stephen Hawking)

I am one of the lucky people who loves her work.  "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreau said that and then he went off into the wilderness at Walden Pond and wrote all sorts of amazing things.  That was his work.

It's a great thing if you can find work that you think is important, worthwhile and challenging (but not impossible).  Probably some of you have jobs and they might not provide you with any of these elements, but a lot of it is your attitude.  When I was trying to find work as an actor, I discovered that I had to find "real work" (meaning stuff that paid the bills).  I stumbled into office work and worked as an office temp for a number of years so I actually had lots of jobs.  The people I worked with really had a lot to do with my attitude -- if they were helpful or friendly or enthusiastic, that really helped.  Office work can be really tedious, but if the office was doing work that I thought was valuable, that helped, too.  Even if the work I was doing was boring, I could motivate myself if the office was doing creative work or work that helped other people.  On the other side, if the people were grumpy or negative or mean, it made the work a lot harder.  I think there's a lesson there for all of us.  You can help people's work be a more positive experience if you can project a positive attitude.

Lots of you are thinking these days about what you will do once you leave high school.  That's a big decision and it's important to know that even if you think you've decided, you can always change your mind.  I didn't become a teacher until I was in my thirties!  They say that nowadays, people will likely need to have more than one career in their lifetime, so if you're flexible, that will be a good thing.  If you open yourself up to a wide range of possibilities, you'll have a fuller life.

You might think you have no idea what you want to do.  That's okay.  Once you get out in the world, either at post secondary school or at work, you'll discover jobs or careers that you didn't even know existed!

As for homework, there is no journal this week, because we don't have a class on Friday.  Enjoy the days off!