Not About That Christopher Columbus Life...

An article I wrote that got picked up by the Huffington Post. To say I was excited would be a huge understatement!
I love what I do. What exactly is that? I write. More specifically, I write about health. Now I know I do that here but I also do it professionally. I’m a health news reporter for an ehealth media company. I read research studies on a variety of health and wellness topics like eye safety, women’s health, and nutrition, and I communicate the findings of those studies to audiences in a clear, and easy to understand format. As much as I love this job, it’s not the permanent, full-time position I’ve been looking for. I’m looking for a position as a health communication specialist. The problem is there aren’t that many of those positions out there. For the ones that are, many are with huge corporations where there will be hundreds of applicants and hundreds of resumes to sift through. There’s no doubt in my mind that I want to be a health communicator. My academic and professional experiences have been carefully tailored to this field. Even in college before I realized that this is what I wanted to do, I was making decisions that were leading me down this path. I just didn’t know it at the time.
Coming up on six months post graduation from my MPH program, I’m beginning to feel the pressure from some of the people in my life to be more “open” in my search. Some of this pressure is very real, some may be imagined, but either way it exists. Why does it have to be health communication? Just go for any job in public health. Just go for any job.
Call me an idealist but I feel like you should find the work you do enjoyable and meaningful. I know in my heart what’s right for me. I constantly pray about this, and I know that God didn’t grant me the skills and desire for health communication by mere chance. While they may not intentionally mean harm, their advice in this instance is off the mark. I think people are more likely to convince you to settle or abandon hope, when they’ve done the same. If they can convince you to quit on your dreams, it subconsciously makes them feel better about the choices they’ve made in their own lives.

Don’t let people who have settled for mediocrity, convince you to do the same. Live the life you’ve imagined, even if others don’t get it. Believe in the gifts and talents you’ve been given, and don’t abandon a desire that God has placed in you. Have any of you experienced pressure from people around you to give up on a dream or a goal? How did you handle it?