What you love or what you are good at

[cgirl4ever]

My brother is a professional musician, who makes a pretty good living at it. However, when he was in college studying music, he double majored in performance and education. This way, he has been able to substitute teach in the school system, when the band is slow.

So, try to diversify as much as possible.

Ironically, music and art teachers are the first to be laid-off, when there’s a budget crunch, despite the fact that more people make their living in areas that require art and music, than those who make their living in sports.

Jim

thank you JimR-OCDS. That is helpful and something to keep in mind. I don’t think i’d teach music or art though

 

[cgirl4ever]

I was an Art Education major in college and could not find a job because the arts were not considered importatnt and there were few jobs. So I worked in a low paying commercial art job which eventually allowed me to work at home once I got pregnant. After I had my family, when I decided to go back to work, I got a job as an art teacher and went back for my MA in elementary ed to keep the possibilities open, simply because I knew that art teachers were the first to be fired when a budget failed. After 8 years of teaching over 500 kids a week, I called it quits and went back to school for theology.

thank you Joannm. I know I want a family one day so that is something to consider aswell. I need to be able to find a job to help raise children

 

[cgirl4ever]

I’d advise you to go for what you love but have a backup plan. That’s what I did. I graduated with my music degree and I am still active free-lancing and playing for church, but it wasn’t enough to survive on. So I went back to school for my nursing degree, which has offered me a great amount of flexibility. The job opportunities in music therapy are quite limited and the pay is very modest, especially considering the amount of training required (college degree plus internship). I worked in a VA psychiatric hospital some years ago, and the music therapists were at about the same pay grade as the licensed practical nurses, whose training program is less than a year! Let’s hope they have upgraded their pay in the years since, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Some people are interested in music therapy, but don’t really know what music therapists do. The best way to find that out is to see if you can spend a day or two following a music therapist around on the job, or at least interview one in person. The only music therapists I have ever encountered have worked for psychiatric hospitals, so that would be the first place to look. Obviously, if you have no interest in working in a psych hospital or long-term care facility, you should consider something else for your career.

If you are interested in education, you could major in foreign language and minor in music (or vice versa) and be able to teach in both areas.

Most of all, pray. God will guide you.

thank you CarrieH. I didn’t know all that. and yes God will guide me.

 

[cgirl4ever]

You can find jobs with almost any major- the job may not have much to do with the major though. I’m not a fan of picking a major simply because it will land you a good job (there is more to life than your work!) but you probably don’t want to be living in a cardboard box either. The arts are shamefully underfunded in this country. Art and Music Therapy seem to be pretty popular right now, but I’m not sure how long that kind of thing will last.

thank you m134e5. I will not let mu job become who I am

 

[cgirl4ever]

Maybe do some job-shadowing in the fields that you are looking at and decide what appeals to you as something you would want to wake up to and do every day.

Job shadowing just means that you contact someone who does that work for a living, and ask if you can visit them and follow them around for a day while they are at work, and ask them questions about what they do for a living, what it pays, how they got the job, what qualifications they needed, and so on. It’s a valuable way to get a picture in your mind of what you want, and also of what sort of things you want to avoid.

Summer jobs are also a way to get an “inside look” at what people do when they are on the job.

thank you jimcrae. I think i might try shadowing.

 

[cgirl4ever]

An accountant co-workers daughter is an art therapist and
she has been working in New Orleans since Katrina.
She’s fallen in love with a musician in New Orleans.

This makes the retired accountant, who went to mass daily where
we worked together, wild with worry.

I think she’s very happy helping—

Many musicians I’ve talked to talk about how you have to play
it the way whoever you are working for wants you to play it
and it then becomes work.

ps: backups are always a good thing
:harp:
good luck!

thank you ocgypsy. I’m a big fan of back ups to

 

[cgirl4ever]

You are good at many things and now you have trouble deciding!
I am reminded of something I heard Jimmy Akin tell someone who was trying to discern between more than 1 worth-while path. Sometimes God’s will is something along the lines of this: “cgirl4ever, you will please Me if you pick any of these vocations.”

That struck me when I first heard it…because I too feel I could be good at several different vocations. It never occurred to me that MORE THAN ONE of the options could be the way to go. Sometimes we think one of our options must be the correct one.

Anyway, hope that helps and doesn’t add to the confusion. :hypno:

thank you Marco Polo. That helped to calm me down. I never heard of that before

 

[cgirl4ever]

I finished an entire career in math (PhD) and ended up in Theology (MA). I believe they were both God’s choice for me. I discerned by following a lead which was actually very simple. I learned it from St. Francis and Mother Teresa. I looked around and saw something that I could do well and would do happily. When I contemplated the lives of St. Francis and Mother Teresa, I realized that both of them had discerned their calling this way.

Francis was a merchant, later a soldier, a builder and finally a religious brother. His vocation sprouted from his desire to be like Christ. It was not a matter of where the money was. He would have remained a merchant, if he had wanted money. He knew where he would be happy and where he would do the most good and that was rebuilding the Church. He first began to rebuild abandoned chapels; by the time he died he had rebuilt lives.

Mother Teresa was a geography teacher and a sister. She was happy and good at it. One day, she looked out the window of a train and saw where she would be happier and better, on the streets. She had no intention of leaving the convent or starting a religious society. Her only hope was to respond to a voice that she felt within her. The voice said, “I thirst.” She believed that she could respond to that voice with joy and do it well. She had no idea how she was going to do it; but she left the technicalities up to God.

From these two people, I also learned to leave the technicalities up to God and follow the call to where I can do something that feels right and I can do well. If it feels right and I can do it well, then it is a gift. Remember the parable of the talents. Don’t burry them. Use them. By the way, feeling right means that it has to be a good thing.

I have a daughter who wanted to major in Communication. She got a double degree in Communication and Psychology. She worked at a TV studio creating educational films for children. After six months she discovered a school for autistic children. Having an autistic brother, she knew something about these kids. She felt that she could do something for them by combining her skills in media and psychology. It felt comfortable, even though it meant a lot less money. Today she is one of the happiest people I know. She’s also living back home, because she’s broke and wants to get a PhD, but that’s another story.

The point is that God calls us through our gifts. Respond to your gifts. Don’t ever be surprised if he throws in a new gift later in life. Look at St. Francis and Mother Teresa.

that is really cool what your daughter did and thanks again. I guess your right God does give us many gifts.

 

[cgirl4ever]

That is so true. It’s not all fun and games, or one big happy band practice, that’s for sure. The down-side includes difficult conductors, egomaniacs and prima donnas in the group (or worse yet, leading the group), dreadful compositions rehearsed intensively, equipment failures at inopportune times (broken violin strings/cracked reeds/sticky valves/loose pads/laryngitis), sometimes having to fight to get paid for your services, vicious rivals trying to sabotage you, and disrespectful, unmotivated private students (and their pushy parents) just to name a few. And if you get sick at the last minute and can’t find a sub, too bad, the show must go on and you play/sing anyway. There’s nothing like being a hired soloist and performing while you have the stomach flu, praying that you don’t barf or pass out on stage (BTDT, just recently). I have endured all of the above and more even working part-time freelancing, and it’s much worse for the full-time professionals. The “work” begins at the point where the fun ends. At least I have the luxury of turning down a gig if it doesn’t appeal to me because of my other job which pays my living expenses. My full-time pro musician friends don’t have that option; they either take whatever comes their way in order to keep food on the table and gas in the car, or they suffer in the pocketbook.

thanks for the insight.

 

[cgirl4ever]

Yes there probably is more than one option, but some options are probably much better than others.

I am almost 59 and fouled up a career after earning a M.S. I was very good at what today they call verbal skills, i.e., English and grammer. I might have been a good writer but when I was choosing a major I decided against Journalism or English because I didn’t think I could make any money in those fields and chose a science instead . In the long run it was a big mistake - Its a long story, but I ended up hating the jobs I had for the most part. I’ve advised my kids to do what they love rather than what they think they can make money at. That way, if they don’t end up making a lot of money at least hopefully they’ll enjoy what they do. Plus, if you don’t really enjoy what you do (or wose yet hate your job) you’ll never be successfull at it.

If you like languages you might look into the military. My daughter is a Russian linguist in the Navy and loves it. She makes good money and in six years has been to Russia, England and Scotland besides travelling around the U.S. She’ll be going to the Ukraine in February. There are many other languages available to study also.dliflc.edu/ Good luck

thank you violetandgandal. I want a job i’ll love.

 

[cgirl4ever]

Indeed. I would also discourage anyone from pursuing something they didn’t love. The OP sounded like she loved more than one thing, It is among those which one should pick, and among those which I meant that God may be giving us the option in pleasing Him.

thank you

 

[cgirl4ever]

Thank you and God Bless you to anyone who replied to this thread. You all gave such great advice.
:angel1:

 

[MarcoPolo]

Thank you and God Bless you to anyone who replied to this thread. You all gave such great advice.
:angel1:

I love your charity! I’ve also since listened to a very good 2-part MP3 series done this year by apologist Phil Krill (download here). It is a very good talk, he goes a lot into how St. Ignatius of Loyola defines proper discernment. It’s called “Determining God’s Will for You”