Dear Diary,
Only joking! Through this series you’ll come to find that I’m not your typical blog writer, matter of fact you’ll come to find I’m not a writer at all. But the question I ask myself is why think and think alone when you can attempt to piece together your words and share them with others and see what the people think?
Will they care? Will they respond? Will it gain traction? Is my writing engaging? Who’s even interested???
Well, I guess we’ll soon find out. Anyway, my original point, the thing I wanted to share anyway is:
You can take the professional out of the profession but can you take the profession out of the professional?
Now you’re probably wondering the same thing I just thought as I wrote that title… does that even make sense? The answer to your question, is probably not, no. But let me explain.
– cue dramatic transitional music here –
Now I’m currently studying Youth Work and Communities at university and so far we’ve had countless conversations some of them I understand, some of them completely new to me but point being the conversations have been many but the other day I read something that made me reflect on a particular topic of conversation. I lied, forgive me. I saw a picture of something
The small pill = “Giving advice to others” and the Big Pill = “Applying it to ourselves”. Now that in itself sparked a million and one thoughts but let me not bore you with them at the moment.
Sidenote: You’ll come to find I tangent a lot when I’m writing. It’s a process but by the end of it, you might get what I’m talking about.
Anywhooo… to my original point. I will tell you why this sparked what it sparked and why I ask the question. Last semester a key conversation was around professionalism as a Youth Worker and what that means as a concept and in reality. I’ve also got a pending assignment I need to complete on that but that’s another issue we’re not going to dive into. Let me land. Professionalism as a subject covers a variety of topics but I guess it’s also tailored slightly to the environment. I can only speak from my background and understanding (i.e: Youth Work and working with young people) and with that comes its own caveat. With this in mind, I look at the principles I, as a Youth Worker, have to uphold and the aspects that come with it including;
- How we present ourselves in a physical environment
- How we present ourselves in a digital environment
- How we build relationships and establish boundaries
- How we reflective on ourselves and others
- And so much more
I begin to wonder, you can take the professional out of the profession (environment) but can you take the profession out of the professional? I mean I guess I still haven’t landed on what I really mean by this so let me give an example:
A youth worker must build relationships with a young person in order to engage that person’s interest, build trust and ensure a good rapport. The way to accomplish this varies from person to person but essentially a young person is more likely to engage if you engage with them how you would a peer right? You talk to them as you would your friend, honesty is key, boundaries are necessary and a mutual level of respect and understanding. The practices you’d apply in this setting are very different from what you’d apply with your friends or at a networking event or from colleague to colleague. But when you’re doing this day in and day out, eventually it will become second nature to you, and an overlap begins to form. In regards to being a Youth Worker, your personal, lived experience begins to overlap with your profession and similarly, your profession begins to overlap with your personal life, the way you interact with people, the way you advise people, the way you connect with others, your subconscious thinking when it comes to your in-person and online interactions.
And I guess I could spend all day going through various aspects, principles and how they overlap but I’m hoping you get the jist by now. Now remember, yes, I’m speaking from a Youth Work perspective but this can apply to any profession where you uphold principles and values.
For example, as a therapist your daily interactions with people will change as you grow in your profession, you pay attention to the things people say and do more deeply. You respond to statements and ask questions differently because that’s what you do daily.
So then that brings me back to my original question, can you as a professional be taken away from your professional environment and ‘return to you’ (and I say that in quotation because you’re not really two versions of you, but you have different sides right?) or does the professional you remain even when you leave that environment?
And this isn’t solely speaking about professionalism. If you’re not in a working role, think about how you are at school or university vs how you are with friends/socially vs how you are at home and with family.
Some questions to think about (and feel free to share your responses with me, DM me ):
Are you a Small Pill with no Big Pill energy or vice versa? And why?
Do you present yourself differently online vs in person? And why?
You can take the professional out of the profession but can you take the profession out of the professional?
Until next time!
Yours truly,
A man with thoughts!
P.S, although my writing might not make me seem so, I’d like to believe that I’m an educated individual. I promise to improve throughout this series.
