I have been putting a lot of thought into my career choice. I am at the point in my college career where the longer I wait to change my major is directly proportional to the number of pointless units I waste my time on taking. The realization of that has made me worry about my current choice of major. It's not that Graphic Design is something that I don't like doing. I like Graphic Design. Do I see myself doing graphic design for the rest of my life? Not especially.
With that being said, I never have really seen myself doing anything at all. My visions of life past college have never really included a job. When I think of my future I think of my wife, my dog, my kids, and my house. I think of being happy and not worrying about money. I think about how I love my job, and how it's not really work at all.
What job will fulfill that fantasy for me? What will be the career choice that makes me wake up in the morning and be happy to go to work? Does it really exist?
When I was small I loved to draw. My parents knew that I loved drawing, and supported me in my creativity. They bought me books to teach me how to draw superheroes, took me to art classes, and even bought me the Sunday paper so I could copy the characters in the "funnies" line-by-line to practice. I would do this all on my own time, nobody had to tell me to do it. By the age of nine I had become a professional at drawing the Peanuts. My stepdad could see that my drawing skills weren't going to get any better if I continued the same routine, so he took it upon himself to buy me another book. He walked into my room, sat the book down, and told me that I was going to do a drawing from this book every week. I had to. It wasn't an option.
I stopped drawing. As soon as drawing became work it lost it's allure. My stepdad was mad at me for not doing my 'assignments' but I didn't care. How dare they force me to draw something I didn't want to draw. They could force me to eat food I didn't want to eat, do chores I didn't want to do, but drawing? No. I wouldn't let them do that to me, even if their intentions were good.
I have time to figure this out. It's been a decade since I gave up drawing cartoons from the Sunday paper, and I'm finally drawing again. I hope that when I finish college and start my career I will treat it the same way I did the Sunday comics. I hope that I do it because I yearn for it, not because I feel like I have to. I hope that making my passion a job doesn't make me want to quit.
With all of this being said, I take comfort in the fact that no matter how I feel about my job, I still get to look forward to my wife, dog, and kids.
