When I was a little girl I went back and forth between several career options.

Spy.

Masseuse.

President.

Small-business owner.

Spy again.

But I never considered being a writer. Writing was just a hobby. It was just something I loved to do. Turning my passion into a career never even crossed my mind.

Even as I got older I never entertained the idea of becoming a writer. I thought about becoming a social worker, a lawyer, a therapist, a personal assistant, a pharmaceutical sales representative, a teacher …

Nothing sparked my interest.

I felt like I was doomed to work a boring 8 to 5 job where I had no hope of advancing. Don’t get me wrong, that kind of work is perfectly fine for some people, but it’s not for me.

I crave more. Much more.

I just couldn’t figure out what more was.

So there I was: A sophomore in college stuck in the wrong major with no inkling of what I wanted to do with my life. Then one day I was scrolling through a list of majors my university offers when I saw the word “journalism.”

I didn’t have to think twice about it.

Everything just sort of shifted into place and I felt a huge weight being lifted off my shoulders. I finally knew what I wanted to do, and it had been right in front of me all along.

They say you should minor in what you love, and major in what will get you a job, but that has never made sense to me. Why major in something you don’t love? Why spend four years studying and taking classes in something you’re not even interested in? Why set yourself up for a career that you know isn’t for you?

Money is usually the answer to those questions, but money can’t buy you a fulfilling career or a happy life.

Money without passion breeds misery. So do what you love, not what you think is going to fatten your bank account.

You may not become a millionaire like you had hoped, and you may not ever have a summer home in the Hamptons, but I guarantee you’ll never have to work a day in your life, and that’s the real American Dream.