Careers, or even lack thereof, are a large portion of our lives. It affects our relationships, guides our behaviour, and shapes our goals and ambitions. It is unsurprising to find that one’s quantity and quality of their productivity throughout their lives have been correlated to their longevity. The impact of a job can manifest itself through levels of stress and/or enjoyment and it can become an expression of one’s personality. What was surprising, however, was that within the aged sample, the most relaxed individual within Terman’s study was not the longest living. Rather, it appeared that it was those who maintained a highly productive lifestyle well into adulthood that were shown to live the longest.
Terman also looked that the careers each patient has chosen, whether or not they got there by choice (or did they ‘drift’ there), how well the profession matched their personality, and if they were successful (which can be manifested in a number of ways beyond income). This made me reflect upon my own life because I am in college and soon enough I will have to enter the job market. Being a generally stressed and indecisive person, I am nervous about what is to come in the future, whether or not I will be successful, and most importantly, whether or not I will be happy. I am not particularly worried about living the longest but I do hope that I will be able to find my career niche. Furthermore, as a result of this, I also think I would want to be relaxed well into the late stages of my life but I would also like to be productive in areas that may not be affiliated with any particular career because I have always felt as if schooling, careers, and other responsibilities have limited what I want to do and I think I would like to have the time to enjoy my time as I wish after retirement.