It's time for some serious fun

I was talking to a woman in church, someone who I haven’t seen in a long time, and she mentioned that her son is studying to be a pharmacist. I said “Oh, that’s good!” and she said “Yeah, because his original passion is in journalism but you know there’s no money in journalism. Other people told me, ‘You don’t even know what you’re telling your son. There IS money in journalism’, but my husband and I talked him out of it”

Right away I thought, Wow. She talked her son out of becoming a journalist or furthering his studies in journalism because she thought there was no money in it. This bothered me because first of all, you can make a living off of a background in journalism, and MOST OF ALL, if something is your passion and you are good at it, then I think you should do it! And if something is your passion but you’re not as good as other people, it doesn’t matter because if it’s your true passion, that will make you want to learn and get better.

People say, “Well, there comes a time where you have to pay bills”. Yes, I understand, but just because you don’t have passion for a career that is perceived by society as lucrative (doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc etc, you know the deal), doesn’t mean that you’ll be starving for food for the rest of your life. And regarding people who are doing something that makes them happy, for example, teaching, and they live in an apartment or smaller house than their neighbors down the road, that’s fine! Why? Because they’re doing something that fulfills them personally, and that’s something that money can’t deliver. 

Money can make you “happy”, but only temporarily. Studies on lottery winners show that if the winners weren’t happy BEFORE they won, they were happy for a while after they won, but eventually they went back to how they were feeling, BEFORE the money. 

Now, to the people who are like “Well, there are doctors or lawyers or accountants that I know, and they said they had a dream to be this and this when they were younger and now they’re fine”, I say this: Those people have found something else, something besides money, that motivates them and validates the way they live their lives. They have found a reason that they have that career, and it’s not money. This reason could be related to money, for instance, being able to provide for their family. But see, this satisfaction is really what makes them happy, and it’s not the actual figure in their bank account. 

So now you’re thinking, “Okay, I have this thing that I think I want as a career, but I don’t know if I really want to do it because of the promise of money, or because I really love it.” Ask yourself, what is it about me that makes me special? What am I naturally good at and drawn to? (This second question is important because I believe people can obtain a degree in biology even if it is not their true passion.)

Once you’ve figured out what’s special about you, make a layout of how you can turn that into a career. And beware, if you’re naturally good at art or music, your road to success will not be one huge break, it will be lots of little breaks that propel you towards the top. Plus, don’t think that all people who are good at art are destined to be animators or something. There are so many careers out there that we don’t know exist, because they are not associated with lots of money. Let’s face it, growing up, we only hear about careers that bring fame and fortune along with them. 

Then, after you find your true passion, don’t be afraid to pursue it. Don’t be afraid of struggling, don’t be afraid of hard work, don’t be afraid of rejection. Even when you find all of these things on your pursuit, that passion will still stay alive. If you discover that the stress of pursuing your dream actually crushed and ended that dream, then sorry, that thing you were pursuing wasn’t your true dream. If you end up pursuing something else, you found a reason to pursue something else, something that was able to justify you giving up on your first dream. 

This is a long post but the take home message is: Figure out what it special about you, what you’re naturally good at, and whether you like doing it. No matter how hard your road to success is, the fact that you like doing it should be enough for you to continue working until you reach a place where you are happy. 

Gather my insufficiencies and place them in Your hands, place them in Your hands, place them in Your hands

Friend: Awww I’m honored that you used this picture of us to be ur profile pic. Me: Yeahhhh haha

Me in my head: yeah but the truth is, the main reason I picked it is because I think I look good

YOU KNOW ITS TRUE!!

In regards to my previous post, it’s an excerpt from an article that talks about positive thinking and wellness, and discusses whether or not positive thinking can heal. Very interesting article so take a look.

That excerpt stood out to me because I pride myself on my optimism, but lately I’m becoming more of a realistic optimist. I have to remind myself that while I hope for the best, I should also prepare for the worst. This is just in case, and not because I’m being negative.

ALWAYS look on the bright side, but make sure you don’t go completely blind.

To me, the problem with positive thinking is the thinking part. It takes effort to be positive all the time. The mind has to defend itself from negativity, and that is exhausting as well as unrealistic. You may succeed in calming the appearance you present to the world, but there’s almost always a struggle hidden just below the surface; at the very least there is a good deal of denial. Being fanatically positive is still fanaticism.

The alternative to thinking is a calm mind that is at peace with itself.

(Source: CNN)