Living to Work or Working to Live

I just graduated college. Thank you, thank you, you’re too kind. However, having devoted my entire life to school and now being left with nothing but a piece of paper as proof of my efforts, I am currently seeking an Adult Job. More importantly, I am on a quest to find my true passion.

I recently went on a luxurious cruise with my partner and their wealthy family and, as wealthy people often enjoy doing, they spoke to me about money and making it. My partner’s father was a dentist and he hated it. He spoke about how the day he got into dental school at UCLA, he knew his life was set. He’d have money, stability, and the ability to grow as a real estate investor (he bought an apartment building while he was in college with his buddy??). The only problem was, he did not like the job. He told me he was thrilled to be done with dentistry and retire from it after almost 30 years. Although the wealth he has amassed for his large family is incredibly impressive and is the generosity that is having him pay for all four of his children’s education, his advice made me think about what my financial and career future will look like.

I do not want to slave away at a career that is not what I want to do, despite how alluring being unfathomably affluent sounds. We only have one life, so why spend most of it doing a job I might hate? I truly want to do what I enjoy as my career. However, I am still figuring that out. So far, this is what I have figured out for what I want in my career:

1. be creative

2. make the world a better place

3. make money / not starve

Maybe it is my naivety to believe this, but I truly think there is a job out there for me. A job in which I can feel fulfilled creatively, fulfilled spiritually, and, if possible, my belly is also fulfilled (haha pun).

I remember talking to a classmate in college about careers after graduation and she shared that she is making over 75k a year working in the fossil fuel industry. She shared that she knows how unethical these companies are, but… But nothing! I could not, in good conscience, work for a brand that constantly fights against environmentalism/THE ENTIRE WORLD for the sake of greed. However, being a broke recent graduate and working my little job for the summer has me thinking about the money… But I have faith that the right job will come to me. And I am excited for that day.

For now, I’ll keep on writing - putting my energy out into the world - and I will continue to manifest that the right job will come to me. I will also be diving into my passions - whatever they may be - and reconnecting with my inner child and what she enjoyed doing.