Don't settle

I haven't blogged since the end of March! Why? Because I was so busy trying to figure out my life and coming to terms with the fact that my 4 years at Gustavus were coming to an end. And although it took me 5 months after graduation to figure it all out, I'm here and I have at least SOME direction to my life through the end of June.

On Monday, I will start my first day of being a Government Relations Intern at Habitat for Humanity and I couldn't be more excited. I think the most important thing I have learned in this whole job-searching process is to follow your instincts. For months, I networked, did applications and wrote multiple cover letters nearly ever day. Without any results. I felt the most discouraged I have ever felt in my life. I actually felt like a failure. There I sat with a Bachelor of Arts degree and nothing to use it for. There I sat with debt and no way to pay it off. I watched all of my peers and people close to me start on their paths, while I couldn't even begin to find mine.

By the time September rolled around, I thought I may have to swallow my pride. Yes, I had a B.A. but maybe in this economy that wasn't going to matter and I'd just have to take a job that I didn't actually want, in retail or whatever it may be. And everyone was telling me that's exactly what I should do. So, I began to listen and started to apply for things unrelated to my degree and to things that I was certainly overqualified for. Yet no matter how many interviews and job offers I got, something just didn't feel right. I felt like I was selling myself short. This is what a lot of my peers may call "being picky".

I call it following my passion. Something told me I wasn't supposed to give that up, that I was capable and that I could do it. That's the problem with our society and our generation. We give up what we truly love for money. Whether it is to make a lot of money or whether it is to make just enough money to keep getting by. We fear the unknown. We fear the darkness that comes before the light. We let go of our passion so that we don't have to struggle so we can get there. We are too scared. And I was scared. But I refused to lose sight of that passion. Because I knew that if I didn't follow it, I'd regret it. And that fear, that hopelessness, the sense of being lost for 5 months of my life, was all worth it. Because if I would have followed anything other than my passion, I would have still been lost. Possibly for  the rest of my life.

I really think Steve Jobs said it best: "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

On Monday, I get to start to do what I believe is great work. And to love what I do. All because I didn't settle.