Our Generation: 'Choosing Love Over A Desk' | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Student Life

Our Generation: 'Choosing Love Over A Desk'

Finding the courage to do what you love, not what you're told.

15
Our Generation: 'Choosing Love Over A Desk'
conncoll.edu

From a young age, children are told to aspire for greatness, which is, of course, a great thing. However, too often we equate greatness with wealth and/or fame. We make these distinctions so carelessly that sometimes children begin to categorize their future before they get a chance to explore their full potentials. It has been taught that to be happy, one needs to be a doctor or a lawyer, to be an engineer or a CEO.

Of course, some people are happy in those positions, but we aren't all hardwired the same. The fidgety kid in the back of the classroom may in fact not be a pain, but just not designed to be sitting behind a desk. The kid that's drawing in his notebook and zoning out (me) isn't a lazy student; maybe he's just practicing what he's passionate about. That child that enjoys teaching or maybe social work, but then is repeatedly told that he or she will make little to no money in that profession, suddenly realizes that the dream that the kid's once held is a non-starter. For this exact reason, we need to begin shifting focus from happiness stemming from monetary successes to the joy that comes from work worth doing.

Jessi Kristine, an Illinois-based young woman, decided that the path that was set ahead of her wasn't one that she necessarily wanted to follow.

"I was always directed away from the arts," Jessi said. Her pursuit of photography didn't begin until she attended community college and met a professor of photography. "He pushed me harder than any other student and made me realize that I wasn't meant to do anything else. He also helped me discover confidence within myself and my work, which helped me pursue a higher education within it," she added.

The internal struggle that persists, paying the bills or doing what you love, which makes it more difficult. However, Jessi says, "In the end, my drive to always do what I love and to be my own boss wins." Her photography is stunning, her drive is undeniable and her perseverance when times get hard show the true value of following true passions.

Like Jessi Kristine, Ian Olsen, decided to follow the path that not as many choose to follow. He attended college in New York, and with his degree began to pursue freelance art.

Olsen said, "My passion is building art, helping to facilitate the making of art. Basically I build skeletons that other people dress up nice and pretty." It is his belief that repetition and practice is the key to a successful career. In reference to this belief, he said, "Ben Franklin said that 'We are what we repeatedly do, and excellence, therefore is a practice.' I take the first half of that sentence pretty seriously, that we are what we repeatedly do."

It was his belief, as well, that if he put his mind to it, he could easily become the successful artist that he had wanted to be. This mindset is one that's not just inspiring, but one that needs to be more common. It doesn't matter if the passion you pursue is accounting, education or freelance art; they all carry equal weight and are deserving of respect among everyone.

Olsen's advice was something quite profound. "If you want to be something, call yourself that thing and you will become it over time. I said, 'I am a freelance artist,' and doggone it, I am one."

Finally, Lizzy Lewis, who I've known for a while, has just left to further her education and continue exploring her theatrical talents. Although she believes that she was lucky to have found her gift at such a young age, she also believes that her parents' influence was something of a game changer.

"They were always extremely supportive but also very hands-off. They let me take voice lessons and go to a bunch of theater camps, but they never made me feel like I would disappoint them if I didn't excel," Lewis said. Her mother was a journalist and started from the bottom.

"She showed me that if you're doing what you love," Lewis began, "it's thrilling and a joy to work hard." Through camps, lessons and various courses, she was able to follow what she loved without necessarily needing it in her schooling. With the support of her parents and with her work ethic, she was able to find what she loved and make a career out of it.

It shouldn't matter the number of zeroes in your salary, the amount of abbreviated words after your title or the money you spent getting your degree. Happiness should come from the joy of being able to do what you love every day of your life and to get paid for doing it. People are going to tell you, in some cases, that what you love can't be a job and it won't pay nearly enough. But as Jessi Kristine says, "take [the criticism] in so you can learn, change if you need to and grow as a person."

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
ross geller
YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

12 Things I Learned my Freshmen Year of College

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

1666
friends

Whether you're commuting or dorming, your first year of college is a huge adjustment. The transition from living with parents to being on my own was an experience I couldn't have even imagined- both a good and a bad thing. Here's a personal archive of a few of the things I learned after going away for the first time.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

301112
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
blank paper
Allena Tapia

As an English Major in college, I have a lot of writing and especially creative writing pieces that I work on throughout the semester and sometimes, I'll find it hard to get the motivation to type a few pages and the thought process that goes behind it. These are eleven thoughts that I have as a writer while writing my stories.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments