"I'm just a waitress."

I spoke to someone I worked with in a coffee shop a couple of years ago, and our conversation turned to graduating and the difficulty of finding a degree job in London. She said that when her friends from back home ask her what she does, she feels a bit embarrassed when she replies "I'm just a waitress.". I know she's not the only one who feels this way, and that really is unfortunate. A job is a big part of your life and who you are, and everyone has the right to feel proud of what they do. And, everyone should.

In today's society, your job wouldn't exist if it wasn't required. No one would pay you to do something if it wasn't necessary, people don't waste money like that. If your job exists, it's needed, simple as that. Your job doesn't have to involve saving lives to be classified as important. There's a long list of jobs and professions that don't get the recognition they deserve, and I hope we can work towards appreciating the workers from every single industry. It's not fair that only certain groups of workers get praise and credit.

All work is honourable. Delivering pizzas, driving buses, bagging groceries, cutting hair, packaging orders, making lattes, sweeping streets, stocking shelves, waiting tables, folding clothes, operating rides, growing vegetables, cleaning classrooms, scooping ice cream, collecting garbage, flipping burgers, caring for people, selling chocolate, painting walls, laying pipes, teaching, mixing cocktails, building houses, performing, sorting mail, and so on. The list never ends, cause it includes every single job in the world. It doesn't only cover those you need to study for ten years to get, or the ones that make you tons of money. I'm not saying anything's wrong with those jobs, but we need to level out the respect.

All the workers doing their bit every day is what keeps our society going. We absolutely need someone to sell us food, we need someone to repair our cars, we need people to run transport so we can get to and from work and we need nurses to take care of us when we're sick. We simply couldn't do it without all roles being filled. All occupations are needed. Everyone plays an important part in the world we live in, even if it's not apparent. This world was built up by us, so we literally created every single job. The jobs never would have been invented if there wasn't a need for them.

Having the attitude that you're less important than someone else is not sustainable. No one should have the view of themselves that they don't matter as much as another person does. We are all humans, and we have the same worth. We can't afford to lose sight of us all being equal creatures in this world. Everyone has different interests, goals, aspirations and priorities. We're not all on the same journey. What you want from life is personal, and our paths are individual. No one can tell you that you chose the wrong thing for you, or that you should have done something different. Only you know what's right for yourself, and no one, including you, gets to deprecate or undervalue your career path.

No one should be embarrassed about where they work or what they do. The job you're doing is needed, and a vital part of this modern-day ecosystem we've created. Always know that even though you don't get the appreciation you deserve, you're doing an important job, and day by day, you're helping our society run smoothly. Never stop being proud of what you do.