I’ve talked before about how, when I was in college, I felt really torn between choosing a practical career and pursuing my real interests. I decided to take a risk and pursue my interests. Unfortunately, my interests do not include anything that leads in any obvious way to a financially secure future. What’s less lucrative than being a professor, you ask? Being a novelist. I sure do know how to pick ‘em.
People try to tell me my career aspirations aren’t so impractical, but I think those people are looking at success stories instead of the big picture. I am currently getting a really expensive education, so that I can try to get a job in a really small field where there are no jobs and a top salary is comparable to what people in other fields make right out of college. And, as for novelists, only a tiny tiny percentage of them make enough to write full time, and you’ve probably heard of most of them. Might as well compare them to lottery winners.
As bitter and cynical as I can occasionally be about my career opportunities, I’m still really happy with the choices I’ve made. I know what I want to do, and I am setting myself up for a life doing things that I love. I feel really lucky for that.
Most people don’t stick with one career for a lifetime, and as I look back at my own journey, I realize how much I’ve fumbled my way through. I went into college wanting to be a communications major and instantly changed my mind. I didn’t chose the right school, so I left after the first year. I wanted to go to the University of Washington, but they weren’t accepting transfers, so I went to a community college for a year. Deciding I wanted to teach high school, I transferred to another school for my last two years, but the School of Education wouldn’t accept me until I took more English classes. I didn’t want to defer graduation, so I decided just to be a Lit major, though I really wasn’t excited about it.
Halfway through my junior year I took a required theology class that changed my life. On a whim, I added religion as a second major. One year later, only a few more religion classes under my belt, I decided to apply to grad school. I got accepted, and I didn’t know what else to do, so I went. I didn’t plan it this way, but somehow I ended up at the perfect school for me. I discovered a theology I could really throw my whole self into.
But, I still had some doubts about the life of intense study and big deadlines I was choosing, so I waffled and delayed graduation. Hanging around another year allowed me to build much stronger relationships with my professors, but it meant applying to PhD programs during a huge economic crisis. My options a bit more limited, I decided to make my life more permanent here in California.
I am really happy with the way things have turned out, and it’s amazing how many road blocks and surprising new turns have shaped my quiet life. I don’t believe things happen for a reason, so they certainly could have turned out some other way, and I’m sure I could have been happy in those other lives.
Things worked out this way as a result of failures and successes along the way. Knowing all this doesn’t make the uncertain future any less scary, but it makes it a bit more exciting. I’ve never been a go where the wind takes me kind of person, but I’ve learned that the wind is really strong, and it will push you in certain directions and you can push back, but you’re still going to stray from the beaten path sometimes.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Stumbling through…excellent description. :)
There is a lot of truth that we learn more and are shaped by the things that go wrong and don’t go as planned than we do the successes. They definitely do more in the way of shaping the path that we will follow, and the person that we are. And the fact that where you are and where we all head towards are a result of successes and failures shows that where we end up is real and reflects all of our experiences.
But, in short, I like this post and understand where you’re coming from, haha.
I think we all stumble through our career choices a little. My future is looking very uncertain with journalism, which is why I’m diving into Public Relations a little bit more.
I truly believe that if we’re doing something we’re passionate about and love we will have a better life than someone who is doing something they hate even though it pays well.
God, I miss the wind.
I think the future is so scary because it’s an imaginary thing. The only thing you can know is what has happened and what is happening now… and even that gets a little foggy.
I usually screw myself up by over-thinking things, wanting a solid plan all the time. But that can be so boring!
My life’s been defined by not only stumbling through, but by letting it happen to me, rather than actively taking ownership of my path. I commend you for doing what you want to do. If I could change anything, in high school I’d have sought out more info. about how truly large the scope is for careers. Even now I discover jobs and entire fields I previously never knew existed.
Reading your accounts on following your interests/dreams has very much inspired me. For a year, I have wrestled with the idea of money vs. passion. I once thought having a job – any job – that provided me a comfortable income would suffice, but actually living it was a reality check. I need to care about something. When I don’t, productivity level goes down tremendously.
But I’m stubborn, so actually making the leap into pursuing a passion has been damn scary. Lately, though, I’ve found myself stumbling across creative individuals such as yourself that show me despite the difficult moments, it might just be worth it.
Thank you.
(Forgive me, but catching up on my crazy reader, ha.)
Well said, and it sums about the journey for a lot of us, I think.
I didn’t want to go to Penn State. I didn’t want to leave “home.” But I couldn’t reasonably pay $25,000/year, so I became a Nittany Lion anyway, and it was the BEST accident of my life. I moved away, found an independence I didn’t realize I had, and eventually took off 500 miles and started a new life. Crazy to think that only 5-6 years ago, I was hesitant to leave and now I refuse to move back.
Things happen for reasons we may not be aware of right away, but they do with purpose, and clearly you’re happy with the path your life has taken. That, after all, is what really matters.