Elizabeth Gilbert explains the difference between these four things in this video. I can’t believe people don’t talk about this distinction more. I wouldn’t have thrown away good jobs chasing some kind of vague, idealistic career perfection if I had thought about it this way instead. I hope this is helpful.

Bottom line:

A hobby is fun.

A job is necessary.

A career is great if it’s important to you, but it isn’t necessary.

A vocation is a higher calling that can’t be taken from you.

https://youtu.be/0g7ARarFNnw?si=wTO48nFzA9GrxrB-

ETA: I have found that there’s something very relaxing about having a job that doesn’t have some great meaning beyond a way to make a living and pay for necessities. It doesn’t mean you don’t care about doing well at it or don’t like it, it just means that you put it in perspective.

I always used to think that having just a job was a terrible waste or I was doing something wrong if my job wasn’t my career or vocation, but it keeps it light. It means that you don’t live in terror of losing it and you don’t amp up every day into a huge deal. It also means you get to really go home at the end of the day and forget about it.