Do What You Love

You know that phrase "do what you love"? I say it all the time. Because I believe it 100% - I think everyone should know how it feels to get paid for doing something you love to do. Personally, I have only had a few tastes (if you could call them that) of doing something I love and getting paid for it but, as of yet, my best experiences haven't included paychecks.

A friend of mine was telling me about her new job the other day. It's a dream job to both of us so I'm glad one of us has it. She works as a drama instructor for elementary school kids who take field trips to her university. It pretty much sounds like the greatest job of all time (at least, it does to me). So while she was talking about it I couldn't help but think about my summer job. You know: doctors office, scrubs everyday, filing, making phones calls, angry patients... zero games of freeze... that's what my job entails. ...Yes, if you're thinking you may be detecting some bitterness - you're right on the money.

BUT today I saw my life from a different perspective. Sure, I'm away from my house for 8 hours a day so I have very little time to write; sure, I don't get to do a single thing I dreamed of doing since I was 4 and a half when I'm on the clock; but I get to work with a whole bunch of really incredible people. My office is almost like a family; almost.

Today when I was flipping through the fiftieth chart of the day, knowing that I had at least four times as many left than I had already gone through, I had a lot of time to think. Flipping through a chart, looking for a certain sheet of paper doesn't require that much thinking, so obviously my thoughts were far away. While I was deep in thought it occurred to me that I'm still a student and this is just my summer job. Not only that, but this summer job fell into my lap without me lifting a finger - and it was right when I really needed the money. That kind of thing isn't a coincidence. It's beyond obvious that there's someone up there looking out for me. So the fact that I'm just a 21 (almost 22) year old student who's biggest worry right now is tuition means that I've still got plenty of time to find a job doing something I love, but for now sticking with what I've got - what I've been blessed with - isn't such a bad idea.

I'd like to think I'm original, but it's entirely possible that this phrase already exists (even if it does, though, I'm still sticking to my story that I made it up):  

If you can't do what you love - love what you do.

Yeah, some people might take it the wrong way and think that you should just never strive to do what you love, but that's not what I mean by my statement. I just mean find stuff about what you're doing that you can love until you reach that place where you're ready and able to do what you love and do it well. I don't think I'm there yet because I know that when I'm ready for it, it'll happen. Clearly there's a lot of hard work involved, but at the same time I'm a firm believer that "whatever's meant to be will work out perfectly." (Just because Avril Lavigne sang that lyric in one of her songs, doesn't make it any less true).

So what do I love about what I'm doing right now? I love that I have a stable job; I know it's not going anywhere and that is such a great thing to know - very relieving. I love that the people I work with are some of the greatest people you could ever meet. Today my office manager helped me figure out a way to work at my church's daycamp twice a week for the whole month of July. I LOVE daycamp. I'm so glad that I can volunteer there and still not have to worry about money. I love that even though the things I'm doing are boring to the naked eye, it gives me so much time to think. I never come home without a few new ideas for a story I'm working on or a story I'd like to start. I love that I get to joke around and be myself at work; I love that I work in an environment where people genuinely care about my well-being even though there may not be anything in it for them; I love working with such generous co-workers, I love weekends and how special they are when I've had a long week.

There's a lot I love about what I'm doing right now. Yeah, I'm still hoping to do something more with my life than just work in a doctors office, but right now it's clear this is where I'm supposed to be. If for no other reason, it's definitely playing a part in shaping my personality, my goals and my work ethic. And sometimes I even have fun. (But don't tell anyone).

:)

Keep it real!