Work for Love

So here I am.  Thirty-three days until graduation.  Twenty-three until my last day at my graduate assistantship.  So many things about this scenario scare me.  Will I be able to find a job that I love and not just a job I need to survive? Will I need to apply for unemployment? Will I have to move?  Will I be able to put gas in my car or put food on my table?  And my loans- I don’t even want to think about when I am to begin repaying those.  At one point in our country’s pithy history, a Bachelor’s degree was a luxury.  Now, it is a necessity.  A Master’s degree was a job guaranteed. Now, it is just a piece of fancy paper with gold plated letters that hangs on my wall in a nice wooden frame. By the way, that fancy paper cost me $145.  

My point is, jobs are not guaranteed in our economy today.  People like me, in our mid-20s, are applying for jobs on a daily basis, just hoping to get something so we can pay the bills.  For now at least.  Until we get a better job.  Until we get the job that was worth us going to graduate school for an extra two years and $75,000.  Until we get a job we love to do instead of the job we have to do.  With all the stress and uncertainty that has come out of a time like this, I have found my silver lining.  It is called perseverance. 

I have never been tested in such a way that I must continue on without any real “pay-off.”  But for me, my pay-off is knowing that no matter what, I will never give up.  And just because the job market isn’t so great doesn’t mean that I need to give up what I love and sacrifice things that make me happy.  If there is one thing I have learned in all of this mess, it’s that jobs and money and financial security may come and go.  But the people in your life that you love and the things you love to do will always make you happy.

With that being said, I don’t have to give up my love for writing.  My love for the outdoors.  My love for travelling.  And I definitely don’t have to sacrifice spending time with my family and friends.  Even in a desperate time of need, I can always work for love.