After our hormones settle down, and our
priorities change, we begin to realize we are
providers, not just for ourselves, but for those
we love and who depend on us.  That is the
motivation for some to begin a serious career.  
For others, a career is simply the challenge of
achieving, of finding something you have a
passion for, in which you can pursue
excellence.  For still others, it is a mixture of
both.

I enjoy telling stories with my drawings and this
story in particular attracted me.  Here is a man
who is totally consumed with his career, as you
can see in the clutter of work on his desk and
covering the walls and shelves above his desk.
 I wanted to include the myriad of details to
show this man is a multi-tasker and takes
7. Career
A Personal Note from the Artist
Actual Image Size: 16”x 20”
Copyright Bruce Carnahan
All Rights Reserved
12 Stages of LifeTM
7. CAREER
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                                                                                                                                                                                  his
work very seriously. He seems to be oblivious to anything else, including his son at his side.

Or is it his son?  At the least it is a small child craving his attention.  We don’t know whether the boy wants to
play, have the man’s attention, or just be in the presence of the man.  But regardless, I tried to show in his
eyes that he has a profound connection with the man.  He respects and loves the adult, regardless of how
much he is ignored.

Consider that the child could also represent the child that lives in all of us—that small part of us that never
grows up, that comes alive when we visit places like Disney World.  The part of us we tend to ignore when we
become grownups.  If this is the case, then the man—like many of us—has covered over that inner child with
layer upon layer of what he perceives to be more serious concerns.  He has entombed his inner child within a
dark closet deep in his heart.  He rarely if ever goes there to visit, but still the little boy within remains hopeful
that he will.  You’ve heard the remark; “Life is no fun anymore!!”.  That is none other than our inner child we've
locked away, calling out to us, begging us to lay down our adulthood and play with them again.   

I liked the irony of the sign on the man’s desk.  He may not squander time when it comes to business, but
when it comes to the most important business of all, time is not only squandered, it seems to be non-existent.

The man who was once a child himself has now become a grownup, and buried all childlike interests under
the grave importance of his career.  He has filed away his childhood and all kinship with it under “do not
disturb”.  He has no time for such things now, for he is too busy with his career.  

He believes that career is the Stage of Life that will be his legacy.  It probably will.  But at what cost?  He’s so
obsessed with working for the rewards of tomorrow, he’s missing the treasures of today.  He doesn’t
understand that tomorrow is only a promise that can easily be broken.  He doesn’t have tomorrow.  He has
only now.  This moment.  It is all that matters.  It—and it alone—is tomorrow’s reward.  This moment is the
birthplace of tomorrow.  

Note the wood on the front panel of the desk.  It is a foreshadowing.  You will recall it when you ponder the
Stage of Life I call "Transition".