That’s My Job

I was at my grandparents’ house over the weekend. I was sitting with my grandpa at the kitchen table early Saturday morning when he began prying himself out of his chair. His mobility has decreased significantly lately, and in the mornings he’s especially stiff. After many silent winces only noticeable from studying his eyes, he made it to his feet and started shuffling out of the kitchen toward the garage.

I said, “Papa, what are you doing? Can I help you with something?”

He replied, “No, I’m going to back Gaga’s [that’s what we call my grandma] car out of the garage so she can go to her appointment. She likes when I do that because sometimes she hits the rearview mirror when she tries to back it out herself. You can see the scratches on the car.”

“I’d be happy to back her car out. Here let me do that,” I said as I popped up out of my seat.

He turned to me, looked me straight in the eyes and said, “No. That’s MY job.”

As someone who is more and more rapidly being stripped of his faculties and responsibilities, he clung tightly to this task and with the tone of his voice all but pleaded as I threatened to take one more away.

While we often identify ourselves by the things we do, we are not defined by these things. We are all needed. We all belong. We each play a unique role. It’s not the act of carrying out this task or that job that makes us essential to the whole, but rather who we are at our core. I recognize this is easy for me to say at my relatively young age, currently being very physically capable, having lots of responsibilities, and feeling the weight of those who rely upon me, but even when my grandpa is incapable of performing any physical task, or as he perceives taking care of anyone, his existence alone, the presence of his soul is contributing to the whole.

Your job is to be perfectly, uniquely, completely you. Want to do some worthwhile work? Then focus your efforts on uncovering so that you may shine fully and radiantly without obstruction. In your yoga, breathe and move as only you can. In your life, live as only you can. That’s your job.

In the words of the great Dr. Seuss: “Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.”