Misery or Money

“There’s no amount of money that makes being miserable at your job, worth it.” Amanda Stamper said this several times during her time with us last week.

Since I will be graduating in a year, this is something that I think about a lot.

As someone who worked through high school at a job I absolutely hated, I definitely don’t want to work a full-time job that I’m miserable at. Sadly, many people are in the same position as me. They have to choose between making a living and being miserable or not making enough to pay your bills and enjoy what you do. I personally know several people that work a full-time job that pays the bills and they don’t like and also work part-time doing something they truly enjoy.

For me, it is important that I enjoy my job or career. No amount of money is worth being miserable every day. But at the same time, I have an extremely large amount of student loan debt that I have to pay after graduation. If I don’t find a well paying full-time job, I’ll be in debt the rest of my life.

As we have discussed in our class, people want us writers to write for free. With that expectation, that pretty much forces writers to find a full-time job that pays the bills but doesn’t fulfill them. Personally, I want to be an author so thinking about the future is unsettling. I’m going to have to find something that will pay my bills until I publish a book, and even then I may still need a day job; a day job that I probably won’t like.

So I guess what I’m getting at is that I’ve heard many people say what Amanda Stamper did, but it’s a lot more complicated. Jobs that make you happy may not be available or may not pay the bills, so you may be forced to take a job that makes you miserable. Therefore, take advantage of opportunities, they may lead to a job that you love.