Realities VS Idealism

It's been a journey in the field and working world. More than ever as we experience the realities of the world, we are confronted with how our idealism will never match up to the realities that we see. The end result is that sometimes we feel jaded, disappointed and angsty when things are not how one would or had envisioned things to be.

I'm not sure to what extent these sentiments are felt in other professions, but certainly in the social service profession, the tension between our ideals and the current realities are to be contended with. The tension presents many challenges of decreasing job satisfaction, loss of sense of purpose and worth of our work and disillusionment with higher systems and policies. This is certainly a fallen world, within and amongst systems, how we prioritize the importance of people need, and relational brokenness.

As a social service practitioner and also a supervisor to other colleagues or students, I find that perhaps this is one aspect of the field that has not been adequately dealt with. sometimes, we hide or would rather not address this tension that is obvious and draining our emotional and psychological energy at times. And we just continuously plod along and do what needs to be done.

I think we need to first acknowledge that there is a problem and there exists this tension. At least then there would be some authenticity. If this is not addressed, then we will either get jaded or get anxious. Get jaded and anxious because there are just too many needs and there is just too much work to be done. This would help practitioners to be less hard on ourselves and to be realistic in what we can do. To place an idealistic worker in an environment that has many real needs will certainly lead to burn out or disillusionment.

Then, we should start to acknowledge that perhaps the sense of idealism is not all that bad. It will give us the strength and energy to want to make changes happen that will ultimately benefit the people that we serve. I personally like the idealism of new practitioners and students studying social work. Yes, they may be unrealistic but at least, there exists the possibility for positive change to aspects of the field that need reformation.

Third, we also need to realize that we work with people. People are the hardest systems to work with. More and more, I realize that knowing to work as a team and managing expectations and relating to others in an authentic yet professional way is certainly a challenge that books and the university do not teach. I used to live in my own world where I believe all social service professionals are great to work with as they are the nicest people- this is certainly on the contrary at times, and I am also speaking for myself.

These are some reflections that I have as a worker from the past few months. They have helped me to gain greater sanity and to be more realistic, yet to still appreciate the fact that I have ideals though they may not be met all the time, and to start thinking through how some of my ideals can be better met. They have helped me to be less jaded, anxious and disillusioned. I wish I could be taught more about these unseen realities!

I guess I also realize that I am no longer a student and no one will really be available to hand hold me and that my learning and growth is something I need to take ownership of. It's tough to learn this fact and truth and I find it challenging. Praying for God's grace and wisdom as I experience this tension and growth.