Is there something you loved doing ever since you were a child? That’s what we’ll dive into. First, I wanted to tell you about my first month of graduate school. This online master's degree program is 12 months, and every month is a new course. It's as much work as a full-time job, and you have 3-4 assignments due every week.
Although it’s a lot of work, I like the challenge - It makes me work 10x as hard. It also gives me a snippet of what my career in journalism is going to be like once I graduate. Currently, my Christmas break just started and I begin my second course in the beginning of January. But for now, I can relax. My little sister Erin is also back home from school for a month, I missed her! She's my little twin and best friend for life.
The first month was focused on Mastery, our life's path and how we're going to get there. The entire course is based off of Robert Greene's novel Mastery, and it was really eye-opening for me. Greene talked about having this child-like sense of excitement when you're pursuing what you're meant to be doing in life. Although we can have favorite hobbies, if we're not fully pursuing our dream, we're only going to have these little spurts of happiness.
Greene really makes you think, what is the career path I'm supposed to be pursuing? What have I loved doing ever since I was a child? That's basically the concept. It made me sit down and truly think about my childhood and if I'm going for the right thing. I thought back to the times in grade school, and realized that English and the arts were my strong-suits.
I loved drawing and painting since I was in kindergarten, and once I learned how to read, I was drawn to books. I really started to love writing in fourth grade, that's when I started my first diary. Here we are, 13 years later, and I started my own blog Kdunph Diaries. Fun fact, in fourth grade, I drew the cover page of my project on the roaring twenties. It was a picture of a woman in a pretty dress, I was so proud of it.
But, it turns out that my teacher didn't believe that I drew it myself, and was sending a note home to my parents stating that I "should do my own work." I'll never forget it. She took me out in the hallway in front of the entire class to tell me too. I worked hard on the project all on my own, my little fourth grade self was so offended. So much, that I took it upon myself to use my recess time to sit down and draw a picture for her in person. Prove them wrong. She was taken back, and I received an apology, as I should.
Out of my hobbies and talents, I started to wonder what my true life calling is. Helping people and storytelling is what I got down to. I'm the happiest when I'm writing/telling a story and helping someone. Instead of focusing on how my first month of graduate school went, I thought I'd talk about the concept of it; because maybe, just maybe I'd be able to help someone. If you think about it, we're all unique and we're all created with special gifts and talents. It's only right to find out what that is and to pursue it, right?
One of the key takeaways from this concept is that some people don't follow the right path due to "outside forces." This is Greene's term for people going against your beliefs, or you worrying about what they'll think. I feel as though these outside forces are what stops a lot of people from doing what they're most passionate about. It's a shame that being different and standing out in society is frowned upon.
It all made sense to me when Greene mentioned that if we don't end up pursuing our dreams, we're not going to be truly happy. Also, that there's going to be obstacles along the way, but that we can't let them stop us. It reminds me of a time when I was at a family party and one of my aunts asked everyone what their dream job would be. One of my uncles was a banker and did insurance for a little while, but his answer broke my heart, "you know, I always wanted to be a history teacher and teach high school kids."
That made me upset, because he's now retired and always had a different career in mind and never pursued it. The bottom line is that it made me realize that I don't want to regret not going for my dream. Pursuing other things before your life's calling is something Greene talks about too. He mentions that if you're pursuing something else, you're still learning and that knowledge can be applied into your life's path. Have faith in yourself.
For instance, I worked as an executive assistant for a stock firm. It's nothing I wanted to do, but I couldn't find a job right out of college in journalism, I needed money. However, what I can apply today is that it helped me with organization, communicating, and honestly I had no clue how the stock market works, I still think it was a learning process. Now, I plan on pursuing different internships until I graduate with my master's degree. All in all, if you get put on a different path or pursue other things along the way, you shouldn't put yourself down.
The different paths we go on are a learning process, and you can always make the change! It doesn't matter what career, your age, where you live, you have to put your mind to it.
If you are currently in a career that you absolutely hate, sitting down and deeply thinking about what makes you the happiest, I promise, will be life changing for you. I know that if I'm a journalist, broadcast journalist, author, etcetera, I'll be happy. That's all that I'm focusing on from here on out, because that's all I've ever wanted. I've learned that you have to put yourself first because at the end of the day, you're all that you got. Be your own number one cheerleader, it's up to you. Think about what you always wanted to do. What makes you have this childlike sense of excitement whenever you pursue it? What is your life calling?
This information is from Robert Greene's novel, Mastery. If you're interested in learning more about the idea of mastery, his book is definitely worth the read. Greene, R. (2012). Mastery. Penguin.