If money were no object in my life, what are the three jobs I would pursue? An interesting question…
I have written before about being a professional panda guardian. Pandas are one of my favourite animals, and the prospect of spending all my time looking after these creatures just makes me smile. It’s something I would happily do for free because I just think they are so adorable. How they survive in the wild is anyone’s guess because they appear to be the most clumsiest animals there could be. I love them, and I would happily spend all my time looking after them.
Another job I would do if money was no object is be a nurse. If money was no object, I could go back to university and train then enter a profession I have the utmost respect for. I am a reasonably squeamish person and there is no money in the world that can overcome that, but I think to be able to take care of those who need it, in people’s hour of need is an amazing thing. I have been truly grateful for the professionalism of nurses many times in my life. Both for myself and for family members. To the nurse who decided my son needed to be tested for meningitis because of a ‘rash’ on the back of his neck which kept him in hospital longer because she knew he had the pneumonia the doctors had decided he didn’t have…and she was correct. If we had gone home as the doctors suggested, my son would have become very poorly in the night and his illness more serious as a result. I will be forever grateful to that nurse and her instincts. I am also immensely grateful to the nurses who literally stapled my mother’s head together after she cut it open in the garden. They did an amazing job for her, and you would never know now it had happened because they did everything they could not to shave her head which made my mother feel a lot better about herself as she recovered. I am truly grateful to the nurses who recently helped my step-father through his sepsis, who raised his spirits in the hospital and helped him to recover. And I am more than grateful to the nurses who helped me when I had cancer and when I had my heart attack – they were all amazing.
It is wrong, I feel, that nurses are paid so poorly in the UK (and likely elsewhere). It is often the nurses who notice when things are not going as well as could be expected in a patient and alert the doctors. It is often nurses that junior doctors rely on for support and help on the wards. And it is often nurses who are on the receiving end of patient abuse because for some reason, they are not seen as important to our medical care as doctors and therefore they can be abused. Let’s be clear – they are vital to our medical care and in no way, shape or form should they be on the receiving end of any of the viciousness I know happens. And they should be remunerated far better than they are. Yes, I know doctors have much longer training, have more responsibility in many respects and I do think they should receive a decent wage. But nurses should also – it certainly isn’t a job one takes on to get rich, it’s a vocation. And I think it should be for both reasons.
But, if money were no object, with the way things stand I would train to be a nurse and happily carry out the job.
The third job I would do if money were no object is the one I do – writing. I have never felt more fulfilled than I do when I write, no job I have ever done has made me feel as though I have truly accomplished something as writing does. The thought that I have brought enjoyment to someone’s life through what I have written is a wonderful thing. I treasure all the positive feedback I have ever received, I am truly grateful for it. It gives me the opportunity to enter worlds I could only imagine, to be people I have dreamed up while I am writing, to do jobs I have never thought to do but my characters do. And it gives me the opportunity to whitter away on here and to process the emotions about situations in my life. What’s not to love about it? Yes, it’s brought me to my knees financially but that won’t be forever.
So, these are the three jobs I would do if money was no object. One for sheer love of animals, one to help people in their hour of need, and the other to entertain people I hope. I can’t think of anything better.
Louisa Simpson 