The Realities of Our Career Choices

It’s easy to dream big when we’re little. When we’re little, it’s easy to say things like, “I want to be a fireman!” or “I want to be the President of the United States!” We don’t have to think about the realities of these professions when we’re young. All we have to do is dream.

If you had told me two years ago that I would leave the advertising industry in pursuit of the far less stable career that is freelance writing, I would have looked at you sideways and bellowed out a hearty laugh. But after spending over a year interviewing at more than twenty agencies, interning, and then finally being hired, I learned that there were many things about the industry that just didn’t match up with the type of life I wanted to lead.

There are certain nuances to every profession that may take some time to figure out, but they can mean the difference a career that makes you happy and a career that keeps you from living your life to the fullest.

So it’s important to ask yourself some fundamental questions. Do you want a job that allows you to travel? Is salary a huge factor to you? Do you want to be able to leave work every day at 5PM so that you can see your family? Is location important to you? Do you need creative fulfillment from you career or would you prefer it came from your hobbies? Can you handle high amounts of stress at your job or do you need something more low-key? Are you able to sit at a desk all day or do you need a job that makes you get up and move? Do you need stability or are you comfortable freelancing from project to project?

And the answers to these questions may not always remain the same for you either, and that’s ok. Goals and priorities change so you have to be flexible to your needs. For the longest time I thought I wanted a career that I could be married to, a job that kept me working late on projects and always had me on my toes. But I’ve now found I need a healthy life/work balance, and there are simply certain industries that don’t allow for that.

These realities are important to keep in mind when you’re searching for the right career path, but they can be especially hard for current young professionals to consider. Many of us don’t know what lifestyle we’d like to lead, and many of us are so desperate for that first job out of college that we take the first thing that is offered to us.

It can also be difficult when your dreams don’t match up with reality. For instance you may love to paint, but you may not be okay with the financial instability that comes along with a creative field such as painting. Or perhaps you’re interested in becoming a lawyer, but you simply don’t have the patience for all the years of schooling it takes to become one.

So what do you do when your dreams don’t match up with reality, or you’re not sure what lifestyle you need a potential career to allow for, or your priorities change? You keep exploring, you stay persistent, and you allow yourself your child like ambitions. Because you can’t discover what will make you tick, until you dream of something first.

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