Are You Pursuing What You Love?

In today’s world and job market, young and aspiring individuals’ dreams are thwarted by various irrational exogenous pressures. As students, we are so apt to solely consider the tuition debt we will accumulate and how we will pay it off, or what job we will occupy five years post-grad, or how our current thirty-second elevator pitch will dictate or affect our ten-year plan. We too often forget about our present.

My entire life, theatre, dance, and the arts were my hobbies. My parents were continually driving me to, and picking me up from, a private dance lesson, show choir rehearsal, play practice, or the like up until the age of 18 when I could drive myself. Naturally, when it was time for me to pick a major and decide that “What will you be when you grow up?” question, it was challenging to try to separate these passions from choosing a potential career, especially considering that the vast majority of my friends transformed performing into plans going to school for theatre, art, and dance.

When it came time for me to decide if I would take a similar path and evaluate what I wanted, I decided against the “creative” choices. I will always have my passion for performing, but I always felt that I had other interests in the professional business arena that I wanted to develop and explore. I chose a “practical” major. (I use practical in this case, referencing popular belief.)

Fast forward three years into my collegiate career at Drexel University - loving my experience, still performing, finding success in both my artistic and my academic endeavors and feeling more self-motivation than I ever have. As most recognize about Drexel, it is a co-operative educational school. The typical Drexel student participates in either one or three, six-month work experiences related to his or her plan of study.

Photo Credit: Jacqueline Lemieux for Drexel Dance Team

REALIZING WHAT YOU HATE > DECIDING WHAT YOU LOVE

After tireless networking, overwhelming hours in the library, many commitments to on-campus leadership, and other immense work, I landed the first “co-op” I wanted. The “gateway” to Goldman Sachs and the big dogs in the Finance industry. My break-through.

My experience was amazing, but short-lived by my own choice. The lessons I learned are some that most don’t encounter or experience until the late stages of their careers. Here’s some of what I realized that I’d like to share:

•    It is OKAY to take a pay cut or change of path to chase your dreams. I’d always heard from multiple mentors that growth was “horizontal.” What the hell did that mean? It means that sometimes, you take a step that is not necessarily, the next rung on the ladder that we are all climbing. I recall Sunoco Logistics Chief Financial Officer, Peter Gvazdauskas, using a rock wall as a metaphor to describe this. Sometimes, you reach sideways instead of upward to position yourself to learn and grow and eventually, advance. By choosing to climb the rocks to the right, maybe you are avoiding the risk of failure or falling, resulting in you plummeting from the wall to the ground. Perhaps, the stones on the wall to the right are larger than those you would use to plant your feet than the ones directly above you, providing a more significant opportunity for security and stability. Regardless, you take the horizontal move on the wall temporarily to help you reach for the higher stones and higher position on the wall. In a professional environment, we see this application often as a means of advancement.  

“Perhaps, the stones on the wall to the right are larger than those you would use to plant your feet than the ones directly above you, providing a more significant opportunity for security and stability…”

A few months ago, an experienced friend offered some insight about stepping outside of my comfort zone: “You have your entire life to make money.”

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This startled me. It shocked me for a plethora of reasons, but I was dumbfounded. The truth was that at my job, I was making decent money, and I’d be lying if I said financial considerations did not somewhat motivate my choice in major. As I reflected on what my friend told me, I let my “plan” to be “successful” (at this time my idea of success was monetarily relative) become whatever was MEANT for me. Trusting the timing of my life became essential for my forward movement.

•    Here’s the thing I keep circling back to in all my analyses and talks with others...

We are YOUNG. Disregard every societal notion of “supposed to.” You are not supposed to major in Biology if it is not your interest, or network with individuals whom you do not want to, or work at a firm that diminishes your value because it carries a distinguishable name or particular reputation.

•    There is no better time than now to explore what interests us, to LIVE our passions each day, (whether major-related or not), and to share our talents and gifts with the world and with potential employers. I took a significant pay hit in deciding to do what was best for me, but opened myself up to a WORLD of new opportunities, fresh perspectives, and an incredible network of diverse individuals. When you are young, and especially in school, THIS should be the focus, not how much you are earning hourly. What experience are you enjoying that is influencing you to become more? Is it pushing you to think bigger? Inspiring you to cultivate and expand your professional and personal dreams?

SURROUND YOURSELF IN A SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT

I am grateful to be at a university that supports my working thesis. At Drexel, our current academic campaign is “Ambition Can’t Wait.” The way I viewed this slogan has evolved. What I used to interpret as “Working and pursuing a career can’t wait” has become “Chase after and work toward every dream you have now, and THAT will lead you to fulfillment in your work.

 With all of this said, I encourage anyone reading this to follow your gut. Pursue the courage to step on the rock that is to the right instead of directly above you. When we trust ourselves, and our “plan” which is whatever is truly meant for each of us, we will ultimately, advance higher and reach the top of the rock wall faster than we ever could have imagined. Only then will we discover new rock walls to climb and find bigger endeavors to explore.

So go climb some corporate walls, or, tear them DOWN…NF