I confess – I’m an accountant!

Maureen is an accountant, though she doesn’t mention this at parties.
Or anywhere, really.
She doesn’t like the reactions she gets, as though her job isn’t worth anything.
‘They just roll their eyes or snigger. So I don’t usually say.’
And of course there’s no reason why we should reveal what we do for a living.
I know doctors who keep quiet because they don’t want to hear anymore back pain stories.
Or ‘You couldn’t take a quick look at my knee, could you?’…they say, rolling up their trousers.
And I know builders who keep quiet – because they’re bored of people’s ‘cowboy builders’ tales.
‘People don’t want to talk about the craft – just their negative experiences,’ one told me. ‘Like I’m interested!’
If, however, we keep quiet because we’re afraid of what people might say, that’s different.
And perhaps it says more about us than about them.
People’s comments only hurt us if they somehow resonate; express something already within us…but unacknowledged.
There’s no reason to be embarrassed about being an accountant. Why would you be? One of the kindest men I know is an accountant.
While I’ve met some deeply unpleasant nurses… and the CEO of a charity who is still a two-year-old with his moods and tantrums.
The nature of our employment is just one more unhelpful label.
Accountant? Charity worker? Nurse? Builder? IT worker? Footballer? Vicar? Traffic warden? Mortuary attendant? Who cares?
Our job does not define us.
And if it feels like it does, take a deep breath…and reclaim yourself from its clutches.