4.10.2012

go do them.

Since I was little I was captivated by my dad's stories of different countries. He told me about fantastic adventures in places I'd only seen in books. I wanted to follow in his footsteps. I wanted to see the world, to have such stories to tell my children some day.

Since I was little I dreamed of writing. I dreamed of a cabin in the woods and a new novel under way. I wrote short stories for fun. I began blogging in college.

Since I was little I bounced around from career path to career path. I wanted to be a dolphin trainer, a vet, a journalist, an anthropologist, a sociologist specializing in cults, an immigration lawyer, a prosecutor, an art galler owner, a photographer, a small business owners (I never worked out what kind of small business), a chef, a financial professional, in-house counsel... The list rolls on and on and on and on. Heck I even thought about acting or modeling for a minute there. I was never devoted to one path or another for more than 6 months.

Since college I've been asking myself why I wasn't pursuing a career in writing. Since college I've been telling myself that such a career was for other people, but it just wasn't practical for me. I needed a real job.

Hold up.

Did you catch that last part? The part about needing a real job??

I caught that this morning while sitting in federal income tax pondering my future. I asked myself why writing, specifically travel writing, wasn't a real job.

I had no answer other than "because I said so."

Maybe it was the teacher in high school that refused to publish any of my newspaper articles even though I did everything she asked. Side note: she finally published one. It won an award for outstanding student journalism.

But for some reason I didn't remember that side note. Instead I remembered the no's. Funny how the human mind works like that.

They say that what you do, what you think about, in your spare time is what you should be doing as a career. Well, I think about traveling. I dream about exotic locales. I pin pictures of those locales on Pinterest. I write short stories on my head. I imagine myself sitting in foreign cafes, writing my latest piece.

So why am I not doing that??

Good question.

But I can say this: from this moment forward that is exactly what I'll be pursuing.

It will take a long time. It will include a lot of hard work. It won't be easy. But I will do it. If I have to manage a retail store or wait tables while I get started I will. If I have to freelance blog post for a while I will. If I have to work as a secretary I will. Whatever it takes, I will do it (short of anything illegal of course. That I will not do).  But I will make this vision a reality.

I will.

It's funny. I prayed for some help in the job field. It wasn't a sophisticated prayer but more of a one word question: Help?

This morning lightbulbs went off and for once I felt a true deep passion for a career path.

Funny how God works like that.

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