When I tell people I’m going to be an English major, the first thing they say is: “Well, what are you going to do with that degree?”

Well, I don’t know, maybe write? Become an editor? Make my own imprint on the world? Being a teacher isn’t the only option, though it is a valid one.

The problem with this is the assumption is that being an artist isn’t a “real job”, and that getting an arts degree is only acceptable if it can be capitalized upon. It brings about a stigmatization that artists are somehow lazy. If I say I want to be a writer, then it isn’t realistic because it’s somehow not as necessary.

I’m still going into the arts regardless of the fact that I probably won’t get paid what I’m worth and will struggle more than I’d like to admit. Why? Because the world needs art.

When people want shows for their kids to watch and paintings to liven up the house, they forget that people make them. People want comic books and amazing video games with incredible graphics but forget that people have to spend hours upon hours making drafts and putting all the details together.

All those tv shows on Netflix? Somehow literally has a job writing the script for it. Someone else has a job for filming, others have a job for editing, some people design the sets and others do the lights or the costumes. There are voice actors for animations.

People have jobs in the arts, and people have entire livelihoods based on what they bring into the world and how they change other people’s perspectives. So you see, being an artist can be a job, and a tough one at that.

Someone joking about the fact that I’ll never have enough money to survive just sheds a light on a bigger issue—that people expect art but don’t pay artists.

I want to write about my experiences and give people something to latch onto. I want to show the world that I can create wonderful things from bad experiences and can have other people relate to me. This is what I want to do with my life, and I don’t find it funny that other people see art as “impractical” or “unnecessary” because people have been shaped by it their entire lives, even if they don’t notice it.

Art can create change, can change attitudes and bring about social change. It’s about emotion, and sympathy, and different perspectives.

I am still going into the arts because the world around me is art, and I want to add to it.

This is the way I feel whole again, and I hope I can help someone else in the meantime. This is how I can express myself and attempt to find happiness because my perspective cannot be replicated by anyone else.

So what am I going to do with my degree? I’m going to learn more about myself and the world around me, then write about it and share it. I’m going to use new techniques and perspectives to learn how to frame stories and people and ideas. With my schooling, I’m going to learn as much as I possibly can and use it every day when I look in the mirror and at the flowers.

I am going to grow as a human being, and be a better lover to the world and its inhabitants.