My
plan B changes a lot, I could say today I think I would want to open a food
truck and sell awesome yummy gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, peskatarian
food, so that people like me who have a hard time eating out and not getting
sick, can actually eat something and not be in bed with a stomach ache all
night.
Then there is my true
plan B with is to become a professor. My real plan A is to become an
international journalist of some sort, traveling, writing stories, meeting new
people, trying to break down borders and make the world seem like a closer more
connected place. I really want to do this! I want to take amazing photos of
tribal life in Africa have them splayed in full, vivid color in National
Geographic. I want this so bad that I have panic attacks from time to time,
fearing that this goal is too much.
So, plan B is to teach.
Since I am a History and Journalism major I could teach either one, goal one is
to get a Journalism masters so that Plan A may be more reasonably attained.
However, if that all goes to shit, like some of these grand schemes do that
people make, then I will look into other options.
Teaching does not seem
so bad, if you can find a good university to take you, pay you a decent wage
etc. Journalism teaching could be alright, branding the next group of people to
try to do what I wanted, and trying not to be cynical or bitter about it. I
could respect their dreams and aspirations, secretly wanting to tell them it is
one big lie and they will never become anything, because, I plan on being very
bitter if I have to fall back on teaching.
The other option would
be to become a history graduate student, which could be kind of cool, I could
focus on something I am really passionate about and really specifically
interested in like Medieval Europe. I have a good friend that was a history
professor for a while, she liked it, she enjoyed teaching college kids, so
maybe I could stomach that a bit better. I mean what do you really get to do
with a history degree? Unless you have something else with it, or get a
masters, and somehow land working at a museum. Which, museum work is kind of
fun, I have worked at two different ones, in the gift shop, which is interesting.
Thus, maybe the research department could be equally as fun. I mean museum
people are kind of a special breed of geek.
Okay, so what I am
really saying is that I do not, under any circumstances, want to go to Plan B
and I will do just about anything to avoid it. So even if I do not get to be
the next Anthony Bourdain, or Samantha Brown, or Elizabeth Gilbert, maybe I can
get a job writing newsletters for a museum, or a small article in a paper, or
taking wedding photos or…I think I have too many plan Bs.
I would say that "being a JOURNALIST" is my fallback, for example working for a newspaper or magazine or news broadcast. Working for myself and creating original content that people will buy from me is my Plan A.
ReplyDeleteIf you've got the guts for it, I think you should seriously consider being a literature or history teacher in high school. You could be the next Ms. Gus! And teaching would give you a stable career with mandatory summers off to explore all the countries you want to while still making money, because all magazines these days, including NatGeo, hire only freelance writers and photographers. There's no reason you couldn't or shouldn't do both!