Let’s talk about choosing a career path. Please know it’s perfectly okay to not be okay about your current path no matter your age.
I’m 27 and I’m pretty sure I had a quarter life crises ever since I moved to Ohio this October with my husband. Don’t get me wrong, Ohio is… okay. (It’s 33 degrees outside, what do you want me to say?) But ever since we moved away from Los Angeles, I’ve been feeling completely lost. Like curl up into a ball in your bed and cry every other day kind of lost.
Here’s what I realized.
Ever since FOREVER, I’ve wanted to work for Disney. That’s been my life goal, the reason I chose a major in Communications and something I’ve generally been working towards. I’ve concocted this plan before 2009.
So I graduate with a film degree more or less, and start getting jobs that involve video production because hey, a girl’s gotta build a resume. I was content with the hard work, weddings jobs, government work, etc. because each job was slightly better than the last, it was bulking my resume with experience, and I hoped that when the time came, Disney would want me.
Flash forward to now, 2018. My husband and I lived in the heart of Los Angeles for more than two years and while lovely and crazy a lifestyle it is, the traffic and the prices will drive you mad if you don’t have a carefree attitude about that sort of thing. My husband did all the driving and the traffic got on his nerves ever since we first moved to the west coast. Through my own loathing of driving, he always drove – even on weekends – and I rarely had to drive around the streets of LA. But even if I had helped him with the stress of driving, we both knew that LA was a temporary life change and not somewhere we wanted to make our home.
But Hannah, I don’t see the problem. Well dear friends, think about this.
I know that leaving LA was the right decision and I am satisfied that we left. But I also realized that Disney operates in Burbank, or Anaheim, or basically any major cities surrounding the LA area. And I just LEFT the area, knowing full well I don’t want to go back (except to visit Disneyland on occasion).
But there’s always Orlando! Or…not. My husband despises Florida the same way that I despise a crying baby throwing a tantrum. I get it. It’s humid and all the worst news stories originate there anyway.
So we don’t want to live in southern California, nor Florida… where else is there? I know Disney is pretty much all over the states but the biggest areas of operation are in Cali and Florida, two places we’ve crossed off our wish list.
Let’s just assume that Disney hires me for a job in California or Florida – and I say, “Screw it! I’m going!” What kind of jobs is Disney hiring for anyway? After checking out their careers page, Disney is basically hiring for retail and video production jobs (a few for movie productions) but a great deal involve TV news stations like ABC or ESPN. I don’t know if you’ve ever applied for a news station but if you read the fine print they ask, “Are you willing to work weekends, nights, mornings, and sacrifice your soul and all that you are and ever will be to the company?” >.< Is it so much to want a 9-5pm job where I can come home and not be bothered?
Thus, even if I work for Disney in the entertainment industry, it sounds like my hours would be less than ideal and I really, really don’t want to work for a news station. *sigh*
So here I am. Examining the path that I’ve set out on and wondering if that’s still what I want. Just because I say I want to work for Disney…what does that even mean? Did I even have an idea of what I wanted to do there? Nope! Would I be perfectly happy working in a shop on Main Street U.S.A in Disneyland? Most likely! But I just left California so… And what does my husband want? But here’s the real question I’ve been avoiding. Do I even enjoy video editing?
I have all this experience and yet, recently I edited a wedding, something I used to do back in 2014, but oy, was it awful. The whole experience was painful. I even did some freelance work for a video company in Ohio and I was bored out of my mind. Is it too late to change career paths? Would anyone hire me when my skills are something I don’t want to use anymore? And if I change paths, I still have no idea what I want to do, or aspire to work towards.
I’m a type A person and if I don’t have these questions figured out by the end of the day, then that ‘ish keeps me up at night and the next time you see me staring blankly into the distance, you’ll know why.
Here’s what I think now.
It should be okay to change career paths, no matter how old you are. Music tastes change, food preferences change, why can’t career choices? Why is it that I have to know exactly what I want from my future before I start school? And shouldn’t my wants and needs evolve with me? Should I be ashamed to admit that I’m perfectly content with a basic retail job if it meant I got to work in Disneyland every day? The answer is no.
This is my life. MINE. I’m living it, and no one else. This is my journey and I’m going to stumble and fall and figure it out as I go along. You can judge it and look down on my decisions but I’ll know that I made them and feel better for it. And if I’m not satisfied, then I’ll keep looking, keep moving, do whatever I have to do until I find what I’m searching for.
