For college students, the struggle to find a job is stressful enough. From an early age we are told to find the job that we love and to follow our dreams and passions
However, the things we want most in life never come easy.
As a child I was never really told about the hardships or the struggle that would come with following my passions.
I always looked to my mother as someone who knew what she wanted in life and sought to get it. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be an educator, and worked and sacrificed to eventually become an elementary school principal, where she worked more than 30 years doing a job she loved everyday.
I always felt that sense of purpose and direction must have skipped a generation. Growing up, I couldn’t have been more confused about what I was supposed to be. I never had the passion to become an astronaut or a firefighter.
It wasn’t until I came back to college and started taking journalism classes that a career path started to open up for me, and I found myself not only envisioning a job doing something I loved, but just being at school and applying myself I realized that I am moving towards achieving that goal.
I am 28 years old and it seriously took me all my life to reach this point.
It seems like younger generations of students are raised with a sense of entitlement that the road to a career will be laid out for them.
But students need to be told of the realities of the job market, for a lot of us we will struggle to finally be where we want to be.
There is no success without sacrifice. There is no shortcut or easy way. What separates those who are willing to accept what life offers and those who control their destiny is perseverance.
It is our struggles that define us, that help mold us and shape us. It is typically through moments of hardship that the character and willpower of an individual shows.
If you want it, prove it.
Life is not your friend, it is an apathetic force that will benefit some and cast aside others.
If you want what you feel you truly deserve, it is up to you to achieve it.
We have grown up with the “if you can dream it, you can do it” jargon all our lives. But life happens to all of us, for some we have to balance our passion with our priorities.
When all you have is blind passion for something, it is sometimes hard to figure out how to achieve it.
Sometimes we see other people who we feel have “made it” in life and we often believe that somehow they were born that way, but no one of prominence in any field got to where they are by luck.
It’s the belief that you can do whatever passion is in your heart better than anyone else that dreams come to fruition.
There will be struggle, family and friends will fall by the wayside. You will make some money and lose twice as much. For every step forward, you will take three steps back.
But it is not the prize at the end that really matters. It’s the experience you learn along your journey that makes the prize that much better.
Knowing that you gave it your all makes those moments of desperation and lonely nights worth it. It is what separates those who work out of love, and those who live for money.
There is an old proverb that says the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
It is not enough to wish for the journey, it is always important to have aspirations and dreams, but we need to do more than just wish.
Go out and find your direction – start stepping.
