I'm hoping that in general there is a shift in the power balance between employers and employees such that there is more full time work with decent benefits, etc, for people who are just starting out or have been underemployed/working the gig economy. The job market and cost of living had become very out of whack. Locally, I see for example that teenagers are once again in demand for minimum wage casual work at local businesses, a basic opportunity that was available to me in the 90s but was not as common for quite a while. So, nobody should feel guilty about turning down work they don't need or want - let employers figure out how to attract and train new employees.

This has been a fascinating thread to read about people's attitudes to their work and perhaps how they have changed over the pandemic. Mine is an industry that has been affected considerably by the pandemic but not me personally. As a lot of my colleague's jobs were affected by international students no longer coming into the country, many teachers have lost their jobs, etc and they don't think the industry will start to recover until 2025 or be at the same level as pre-pandemic until 2030.
I don't think I identify too much with my job, though it is an area where you need a passion to do it well, a lot of my friends work in the industry and I am quite involved in professional committees, etc. This is maybe because I see people who are so focused on their jobs they find it hard to step back and be objective in their decision-making. It has been only recently that I have developed a lot of outside interests and I think that has changed my perspective.

Carla, that sounds like a very stressful job and you should not feel compelled to ‘help out’. Knowing whether to take up a new role is tricky. A mentor once said to me that you need to keep balance in your life and make time for:
1. Family
2. Work
3. A hobby
At certain times you may find things go wrong with your career and you don’t want that alone to define you and give you purpose. This was great advice for me and something that I really try to make sure I keep in balance.

I teach, and if I had retired, you couldn't pay me enough to go back right now, at least not in my current district. We have NO covid precautions - no masking, no social distancing, packed cafeterias, normal sporting events, assemblies, etc. Indeed, our Superintendent doesn't even follow the board's rules regarding masking (we're only supposed to mask if we have family in the same home with covid). We have had so many absences that we pulled the RTI team to sub, canceled gym and canceled music. Only when administration had to be in classrooms did we cancel school for two days, and that's not enough. We have scores of people who tested positive on Friday and won't be back when we go back in person tomorrow.

That said, I love what I do. Yes, I am looking at other districts right now, and yes, it is disheartening that a place that is supposed to be about education is run by science -deniers, but what I teach (reading) is so incredibly important. If I weren't working, I'd still be pursuing classes in something, because I am all about education - for my students and for myself.