Make a living doing something I love

I’ve already done this – I was a park ranger in Yosemite, and got paid to lead people on 7 day hiking trips through the high Sierra.

AND, I taught outdoor education to 12 year olds during the school year – I got paid to hike around the forest and teach kids cool stuff and have a great time.

Before all that, I was a botanist for a while, getting paid to hike around the forest looking for flowers :)

Soooo…. I want to do something again that will make me feel lucky. Meaningful work is such an important thing in our lives – I am lucky to have a wonderful relationship, and live in a beautiful place. Now to add meaningful and fulfilling work that interests me to complete the trifecta!

I am working toward a certificate in web design, and would like to find some way to combine my science/natural history knowledge, teaching background, and web geekery into something I can get paid to do!

Wish me luck :)

I’ve been working at the magazine since last May. I am severely underpaid but I LOVE my job.

So I think I’m on the right path to find out what I love. I’m still not sure what exactly it is, but I feel I’m one step closer to it. Since I don’t want to jinx this, I will reveal it once I’m actually making a living doing something I love. :)

Someone on 43T sent me a message today, asking what my major is and the truth is, I don’t exactly know yet. I will be completing my AA in just over a month then I am going to a pretty prestigious 4-year school – not Columbia – in the fall. I very much wanted to do a double major in Romance Languages and Comparative Literature, but I do not have enough time/space in my schedule with regards to the amount of credits that I will have left to complete when I transfer to really do that. I am currently considering declaring a French major/film minor. I don’t want to give up on my goals of becoming a polyglot, but I will just have to learn other languages in my leisure time (which will continue to be fairly non-existent at least until I finish school). I am also overwhelmed by anxiety that I won’t be able to get a lucrative and/or otherwise rewarding job directly related to my degree when I am finished, but I am trying to overcome the defeatist attitude (or to stop sabotaging my own happiness, to wrangle in another one of my 43T goals that is intertwined in this post), take the leap of faith and trust that this is not all for naught.

I love my job(s) and I can’t quite believe that I get paid to do what I do at times. I love Theatre and knowing I am in that food chain, I get to tread the mighty boards gives me a tremendous sense of satisfaction. I love Drama! My spirit retains my African intensisty wherever I may be… a passion for all things rich and vibrant and dramatic. I love the concept of learning and free education. I adore the brilliance of Youth. I am in awe at the work being done on a social level using Theatre tools in tackling identified groups that would either not have access to the arts or groups that would benefit from workshops purely using Theatre techniques to aid change. I work for a Theatre Company that champions Young People. We applaud their wealth of creativity and their apetite for comprehension. Granted Teaching and Performing is equally taxing, mentally and physically, but the pleasure gained from both is so immense that it cancels that out.

When I was just facilitating I dreaded getting to a stage where I resented teaching, a state where I would only be doing it because I couldn’t be an ‘Actor’. But I made the decision to go with my heart and now I am glad I have the best of both worlds. Being a Jobbing Actor and having representation somehow makes me feel more fulfilled but at the same time working within community theatre and theatre in Education makes me feel enriched. Other benefits of combining the two is that I am also not quite as shallow/stressful as I would most probably feel If all my days was spent on go-sees or ‘not getting the job’ as some would call it.

But hey no negativity allowed in this post -

To summarise, I couldn’t imagine opting to make money from anything but my chosen major.