Choosing a job

When you get punched, you have to get up. You have no other choice. If you don’t, you’re not going to grow, you’re not going to get better as a player.
– Scott Brooks

After college I had to decide where to get a job (because moving home and mooching was never an option). While they say there are always jobs for teachers, there aren’t always enough jobs for the number of people looking for them where you are looking.

After a reluctant prayer (reluctant because I knew what the answer was going to be and I didn’t want it to be that), I felt I needed to get a teaching job in Utah. And they just weren’t that plentiful that year.

I checked the job postings every week and made multiple calls every week. I was not getting a full time job. Eventually I found a part-time job and then made the rest of my budget fit what I was making. I chose to work extra jobs here and there to help my budget – substituting on my days off at my school, tutoring before school, house cleaning, working at a fabric store on Saturdays.

My grandpa lived through the depression and was of the opinion that if you had a job that supported your family that was more important than if you liked your job. And at certain times there is wisdom in that. But if I knew I had to do something I hated from now till retirement, it would be very hard to be happy in my non-working life. You do better at something when you like what you are doing. There is a reason I have never considered working in telemarketing as a job. There is no way I’m made to do that work.

I have several hobbies I love that I could do for money if I wanted to. But doing them enough to make a decent income would be extremely difficult. So they remain small hobbies. I love teaching though. I love education. And that can be a stable job for me.