A Calling
Finding purpose and meaning in life can make all the difference in our mental health.
After two and a half years of working from home for a telemedicine company, I returned to work as a funeral director (mortician). Being a funeral director is my calling in life.
It took me five years to get the mortuary science degree. I worked full time, went to school full time, and had so much math to catch up on. The first three years were all prerequisites. I persisted and pressed on, even though my life partner was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor halfway through the mortuary science program. Even though my son, who struggles so much with substance use disorder, was sentenced to prison the same month Tom was diagnosed. I persisted in my goal of graduation despite it all. After graduating, passing the boards, and completing my internship to become a fully licensed Funeral Director, I feel pride in myself.
Working as a mortician is stressful, challenging, demanding, and rewarding. The friendships with my fellow morticians, those equally strange folks who get my sense of humor, who get my desire to help grieving families, my desire to work with the dead; these friendships are truly rewarding.
The telemedicine company, and the time I spent working for them, made me significantly realize my calling…
