This has been a shock to a lot of people (including myself). I'm looking at myself right now and wondering "Who are you, how did you get here, and where are you going?!" The funny thing is I've been asking myself this repeatedly since I graduated from college with a Music Education degree in 2010. My God, I was a wreck after graduation. I felt completely L O S T and didn't know what I wanted to do. I told myself "You have a year to figure it out. In the meantime, put your degree to use and get a J-O-B."
After a few months of substitute teaching, I got a job as a full-time middle school choral director.
A job doing music! With benefits! But I don't have a deep desire to make teaching a career. I have a job using my degree at a time when so many graduates are having a hard time job hunting! I can teach, but it's not my thing. What a blessing! I don't know about this. Praise God for this opportunity! <---- this was my thought process, folks.
The first year that I taught was--ahem-- quite an experience! It was challenging, frustrating, exhausting and stressful. But I gave it my all and persevered and was glad to see the results of my hard work in my students. I still hadn't figured out what I wanted to do, so my one year transition turned into two years. Year One of teaching was down, surely Year Two would be smoother.
It wasn't.
I'm not going into details, but things went from challenging to insane. I was [L E S] M I S E R A B L E [S] and questioning God "Why am I going through this?! This is NOT the life I thought I would be living!"
Things were so bad it began taking a toll on my physical health, emotions, and mental well-being.
And quitting was never an option for me. Like I said earlier, I believe in doing your best where you are. Sometimes you can't choose your circumstances, only how you handle them. For example, if my job was scraping bird poop off the sidewalk then I should be the best sidewalk-scraper I can be, but in the meantime look for another opportunity! Don't settle for something you have no desire to do!
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