The Place Between the Dream & the Comfortable

When people talk about “leavin’ the 9-to-5 to pursue your dream”, it’s usually in context to a horrible mundane place, where Mondays are dreaded and dreams  are scoffed. But I bet I’m not the only person to say, “that’s not MY 9-to-5. I don’t HATE my job!”

Executive Assistant isn’t my dream, but the company, the people made way for my creative spirit. I emailed the region daily motivational or hilarious memes to start the day off right. I dressed up an office mannequin and gave her adventures and stories (search #delilahtales on Facebook or Twitter). I wrote a Dr. Seuss poem about our work for staff retreat. I didn’t deal with painful coworkers – we were actually a team and even friends and enjoyed being together.

All of these reasons and more made it so difficult to choose to leave.

• Be grateful.
• You don’t hate your job. What all are you gambling away on the elusive hope of finding your calling and destiny?
• They say the “dream job” is a myth. You’re just lazy and bored and spoiled first world probz. [Google it: “myth of the dream job” – it’s real.]

But it all started with losing my Dream Job.

Full disclosure: about 6 months ago, I applied for the dream job of all dream jobs – proofreader at a book publishing company. I was ready, I thought. And then I flunked the test. I think it was test anxiety, all the pressure of what this test could mean got to me. But it shattered my confidence. Maybe I’m not all that special. My hope took a beating, and it’s still in recovery.

So what got me to hope again, to take a chance at a step towards my dream?

Friends. Friends who believed in me when I couldn’t.

My past roommate shared the job opportunity with me. My work bestie was genuinely excited for me – probably more than I was – leaving her workplace but to pursue my dreams. My writers group kept my hope alive and pushed me to continue.

I’m not to my dream job yet. But I’ve taken a step in that direction, to learning a career of writing and proofreading. It’s scary and uncertain, but it’s moving forward.