I'd Rather Be...

I love to sing. I love the thrill of getting up on stage in front of a crowd of people and putting my all into a song. I still reminisce about my musical theater days in plenty of broadway favorites—Oliver, Annie, Pirates of Penzance, Into the Woods, Fiddler on the Roof. I was so happy taking on various acting roles and being a source for quality entertainment. Perhaps this confession is something I should keep inside, terminate this blog post, and carry on with my day job. But, whether you have faced it or not, everyone has a passion that they can only wish would translate into a full-time, well-paid job.

My boss loves the bass guitar and even started off in a band he modestly refers to as 'sub par.' And though he opted for the advertising agency route, I know he wouldn't pass up a solid jam session with an old friend if the opportunity presented itself. I have a friend who has played golf his whole life, did well in college, but opted for a job in finance upon college graduation. I am convinced that his drive will make him very successful, but I think he'd prefer to be 'driving' elsewhere. And then I think of my dad who is yet to live down his collegiate lacrosse days. He also works in finance, but spends almost every weekend at lacrosse tournaments or coaching young goalies. If he could make a sufficient living playing for a Major League Lacrosse team he would. 

And the list of those physically in one place, but mentally in another goes on. If you are reading this, you yourself are thinking of your own passion and true calling. Like a bumper sticker preaches, "I'd rather be ________." You fill in the mad lib. (Keep it clean.)

I spill these thoughts because of where I stand in life now. Fresh to the working world, still in my youth, I sporadically ask myself 'is this what I should be doing?' When we graduate we are handed a diploma, as well as something a little less tangible and a little more difficult to harness: Independence. This is why the real world suddenly becomes 'scary.' With our independence, we recent grads worry that whatever step we take next will not be the right one. And so we step cautiously, opting for a job that fits our varying degrees or something close to it. Day by day, we carry on in our entry-level jobs thankful to even have something in this economy. We learn a great deal about what our professors lectured on in college, all the while resorting back to that damn bumper sticker. I'd rather be playing the Baker's Wife in Into the Woods.