VIRGINIA CALCAGNI– Staff Writer
Lately I have found a new phrase that has major meaning in my life: “Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces” (also the title of a Seether album.)
The last couple months I have had a number of people come up to me and tell me that my future goals aren’t going to help me reap many benefits.
I am moving a little ahead of myself, though.
When we are all young, we have this crazy idea of what we want to be when we grow up, and it is usually something extravagant, like a rock star, actress or astronaut. Then we get a little older and want to be extravagant and more realistic things like a teacher or doctor, and still a rock star, of course.
Now that we are in college, there is the focus of major decisions. For incoming freshmen, there is nothing more nerve-racking then choosing the right major, and it is even that way for upperclassmen. No one wants to make the “wrong” choice.
I feel like I skipped most of those steps because I had no clue at all until my senior year in high school. Maybe I didn’t prepare myself, I am not sure. But once I picked what I wanted to do, I realized that I always knew that I wanted to be in the field of media, journalism in particular, with a focus in radio.
Between people who are in the field, professors and bloggers, the idea of this major is crazy. I have been told I will need two jobs to live comfortably, or I will be lucky to find a job, or that I am hitting a dead end.
Heck, a stranger told me I was crazy, but that isn’t what this is about. This is about the fact that most of the careers that will make you happy are the ones that won’t bring in a lot of money.
However, I don’t see this as discouragement; I see this as preparation. Yes, life is hard! Perhaps this is a good way to find out exactly who is doing what they want.
I am currently a senior (super, really) and I have never been more sure of what I wanted to do in my life. After being at a radio station for an internship and working at the college station, and just taking classes and learning, I know that this is what I want to do, and I have never been more sure.
In the state of living that we are currently in, it is hard to find a decent living in something you love, but that isn’t the point. It just isn’t. People will say all the time that they got into a career because they wanted money and a decent income, and they are miserable (most of the time.)
I choose to find beauty in negative spaces. I choose to follow what I love to do, and I encourage everyone to do it. Things will never get easier, and once you find something you love, you should never give it up.
This could be about passion, or love, or maybe pure stupidity. But when someone asks you what you want to be, you should be able to say an astronaut if that is what you want. Every field needs work, and work is like an onion (“Shrek” reference,) it has layers!
Journalism has layers. Music, art, tap dance, Susie Homemaker, all have layers. Discouragement is easy, saying it won’t work is easy. Getting rejected hard and highly possible, finding something better that leads you to a realization that the first thing didn’t work out for a reason: priceless.
This is what college is about, and there are going to be the people like I have encountered that are either just trying to be real with you or that are just trying to get you to quit, or discourage you. That is my biggest realization, and the biggest fight is getting through it, getting the degree, and finding a plan (but who really wants to live with a plan, those don’t usually work.)
I am not saying be unrealistic. If it comes down to the fact that there isn’t really much you can do with the field of study, it probably isn’t a good idea. But then there are always ways to make it work, or at least try– finding beauty in negative spaces.