The headline that caught my eye was "10 Careers That Will Make You Happy" and was one of only 5 emails I saved from the entire lot. That's the top 1% for you numbers people.
Here are the pearls of wisdom offered by Women's Health.com:
"Creative Careers: Get Crafty
Got a talent? Then do something with it — research shows that creating something of value for your living can work miracles for your emotional health. According to the GSS, 74 percent of writers, 67 percent of sculptors, and 67 percent of painters say they are very satisfied with their jobs. What’s so great about creative careers? Having the freedom to express yourself can be an emotional outlet (and you can make money while you do it!)."
Sigh.
You see, I've been trying to work as a writer since 1996. I went to the "best" screenwriting school in the world, UCLA, receiving an MFA in Screenwriting. I followed it off with a stint at the Canadian Film Centre. I got very close, on a number of occasions. I still remember the tense, yet delicious feeling that 5 different studio heads had my script over one weekend. I also remember what Monday felt like when the "no's" started to trickle in. We were pre-selected for Cannes with a film I penned - surely this must be the beginning. No. Nothing. Money from the Harold Greenberg Fund! Glowing reader reports - this must be it! No. Nothing. Nada.
And here I sit, 15 years later, still hoping to make some kind of a career in writing happen.
We are a generation that was told "you can do anything" and we believed it. It was a good and supportive thing to say to your children instead of "get a job" or "marry rich" in the case of so many daughters. But it put our head in the clouds, I think. And it means we're never satisfied with what we do have. My mother lamented the fact that all of us had aimed so high. She wishes sometimes that one of us would have been a "happy hairdresser" instead of all this endless striving and stressing.
I have a "good" job; a salary that most people would be thrilled with (as am I, that's never been an issue) but it wasn't what I set out to do and it's miles away from a "creative" career that the site above so blithely pitches as completely attainable. So how can that be anything but a failure?
As I remind myself and people I complain to, all I ever wanted was to enjoy what I did for a living. I never dreamed about getting married, or having babies, or having some big house. I dreamed about having a fulfilling career. Seriously. Ask my family.
I honestly think this might be the crux of it; why I'm so unable to be happy in the moment. I failed. I'm still failing. And yet I keep trying. Does that make me tenacious? Or stupid?
I don't know what I'll tell my little girl about her career. Probably to figure out what comes naturally to her, feels easy AND has a market that isn't a nightmare to break into. Maybe she'll listen, maybe she won't. I'm pretty sure I won't tell her she can do "anything". Because she can't. If finding true happiness is figuring out why you're on the planet and what makes you special, then limiting your choices down to those that fit your talents can't be a bad thing, can it?
Perhaps I should get myself sorted before worrying about my 2 year old child.
Isn't it amazing how much easier it is to advise others how to fix things than to apply that same thinking to ourselves? Advice rolls off our tongues. We tell others to "follow their bliss", or "live their dreams" or "make it happen."
If only it were that easy.
Sigh.
You see, I've been trying to work as a writer since 1996. I went to the "best" screenwriting school in the world, UCLA, receiving an MFA in Screenwriting. I followed it off with a stint at the Canadian Film Centre. I got very close, on a number of occasions. I still remember the tense, yet delicious feeling that 5 different studio heads had my script over one weekend. I also remember what Monday felt like when the "no's" started to trickle in. We were pre-selected for Cannes with a film I penned - surely this must be the beginning. No. Nothing. Money from the Harold Greenberg Fund! Glowing reader reports - this must be it! No. Nothing. Nada.
And here I sit, 15 years later, still hoping to make some kind of a career in writing happen.
We are a generation that was told "you can do anything" and we believed it. It was a good and supportive thing to say to your children instead of "get a job" or "marry rich" in the case of so many daughters. But it put our head in the clouds, I think. And it means we're never satisfied with what we do have. My mother lamented the fact that all of us had aimed so high. She wishes sometimes that one of us would have been a "happy hairdresser" instead of all this endless striving and stressing.
I have a "good" job; a salary that most people would be thrilled with (as am I, that's never been an issue) but it wasn't what I set out to do and it's miles away from a "creative" career that the site above so blithely pitches as completely attainable. So how can that be anything but a failure?
As I remind myself and people I complain to, all I ever wanted was to enjoy what I did for a living. I never dreamed about getting married, or having babies, or having some big house. I dreamed about having a fulfilling career. Seriously. Ask my family.
I honestly think this might be the crux of it; why I'm so unable to be happy in the moment. I failed. I'm still failing. And yet I keep trying. Does that make me tenacious? Or stupid?
I don't know what I'll tell my little girl about her career. Probably to figure out what comes naturally to her, feels easy AND has a market that isn't a nightmare to break into. Maybe she'll listen, maybe she won't. I'm pretty sure I won't tell her she can do "anything". Because she can't. If finding true happiness is figuring out why you're on the planet and what makes you special, then limiting your choices down to those that fit your talents can't be a bad thing, can it?
Perhaps I should get myself sorted before worrying about my 2 year old child.
Isn't it amazing how much easier it is to advise others how to fix things than to apply that same thinking to ourselves? Advice rolls off our tongues. We tell others to "follow their bliss", or "live their dreams" or "make it happen."
If only it were that easy.
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