FOLLOWING YOUR PASSION AND LETTING GO OF YOUR SHOULDS: PART TWO

In Luna's book, The Crossroads of Should and Must, she asks a question: what if our job = our career = our calling?  Imagine that?! Why doesn't it? Why do we stay at  unsatisfying jobs and in careers that we are not passionate about? Because to follow our passion and turn it into a career is difficult, risky and uncertain.  It requires sacrifice, discipline and letting go of your fears.  For people who have to support a family or pay off loans, it is very hard to give up the comfort of a steady income.  Many of us enjoy a conventional, pleasant life of working 9am-5pm and coming home to our family.  But what if you want more?  What if you want adventure, excitement and new opportunities?  Well, than something has to change.  

What is your vision of success?  Is it starting a business, making a million dollars, having a clean house, finishing your degree, or having a flexible career so that you can spend time with family Everyone's vision of success is different and you are not going to fit the same mold that your friends and colleagues do.  Some pharmacists (or insert other career here) I know are very unhappy with their job, but it may not be the job itself but rather an internal battle they are fighting.  If you don't like the people at your job or the daily work that you do, that doesn't mean give up on your profession altogether.  I know many pharmacists who switched from the IV room to the clinical side or to management (or multiple other people).  There are many great niches in pharmacy - sometimes it is just about finding the right fit.  And sometimes it is about following that burning desire inside that tells you to make the jump to must.  Only you will know what is right for you.  

Being a pharmacist is a great job and a great career - especially if you are passionate about it. The job pays very well and the hours are pretty accommodating for a family.  I have a lot of friends who are pharmacists during the day and then travel, do photography, or get their MBA during their off hours.  I think this structure works well for some people.  But I also know someone who really disliked her job as a pharmacist.  Her passion was to be a yoga instructor but she was afraid to give up the security of a job and also afraid to disappoint her parents who had paid for her schooling.  She quit her job as a pharmacist, opened a studio and is very happy now.  It took her putting in a lot of work, getting over her fear of disappointing her parents,  and giving up a steady job.  Again, I don't think this model works for everyone, but if you have that burning internal desire that you can't shake - just do it and take the chance.  Choose must over should.  Maybe the risk doesn't pay off, but you will always be able to go back to your comfortable life of shoulds; it's not as easy to make the jump to must.