What is more important, a job that pays, or a job that you love?
We’ve been asking our friends and followers that exact question and while the answer for some is an easy “a job you love”, there’s a lot more that young workers are considering.
If you’re a software engineer, you will most likely end up in a well-paying job that you also LOVE, and good for you! But, if acting, music, or teaching is your passion, your career won’t be as immediately profitable. Plus there are other financial factors to consider: paying rent, buying a house, starting a family, or paying off student loans…
We’ve all heard it a thousand times: “it’s a tough time out there finding a job,” especially for workers under the age of 35. And getting full-time work straight out of high school is just as unlikely.
So what can we do? Do we just need to put up, shut up, and be grateful for our jobs in hospo or retail until we finally have a breakthrough at the age of 40?
To borrow the words of Oprah Winfrey: “do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do.”
If slogging away behind the checkout at Countdown means putting food on the table, you do that. There is nothing glamorous about the term “starving artist”. Fuel for your body and nourishment should absolutely come before the pursuit of art. Both are important. But first: food.
But the issue of what is more important, follow your passion or finding a stable job, remains.
We reckon, if you need to find a “boring” job to survive, make your passions your hobby. Being a cleaner at the hospital might not be your dream job, but society needs those people in those jobs.
Then, if your stable job is getting you down, commit to living more simply so you can pursue your passions full-time.”