The next time I’m on a dance floor and someone says, “shake your money maker,” I’m going to shake my head like a bobble head doll sitting on the dash of tractor. Writing in advertising allows me to make money with my brain, with my ideas. A good advertisement is essentially just a thought that you tell a bunch of people. And it beats the hell out of slinging cocktails. Even though I went to school for advertising and have already dedicated years to it, I can’t get away from this need that I have to help people. I blame my mom. I think Mother Theresa and his holiness the Dalai Lama secretly had a baby and named her Ruth Elliott. She has practically dedicated her life to helping others. And the thing is, sometimes I feel like my career doesn’t really enrich people’s lives and it leaves me feeling a little hollow.
Over wine the other night, discussing possible life destination options, I said, “Based on votes, I may be teaching English in another country. That would help people and make me feel good. I love writing in advertising, but it doesn't exactly help people.” And my friend Andrew told me that I shouldn’t feel guilty about doing a good job and making a living, even if it doesn’t instantly translate to helping others. And the more successful I get, the more opportunity to help others I have. And he’s right. I could sell all my personal belongings, move to northern India and protest against the oppression of China by participating in candlelight vigils and fasts. Or I could become a badass writer and collaborate with the large network I’d have accumulated, reaching more people with a message of peace. So I told him something I find myself saying quite a lot these days, “I’m gonna blog about this.”
Life destination option four: Career First. Voting for this means you want me to make choices based solely on whether or not it’s going to make me a successful writer. That may mean taking a job at Crispin and relocating to Colorado for a while. Or Weiden and go back to my birthplace, Portland, Oregon. This may even keep me in Los Angeles a little while longer. Will I look back and wish I‘d traveled more? Became fluent in another language? Relocated to New Zealand and met my baby daddy?
It’s not like I can’t do a combo of these things. Or won’t do my best to hone my skills if you don’t choose this. It’s all about where I should focus my energy now. Remember, this is the only life we get. (In this form anyway.)
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Bestiversary trip
Natasha and Annie in NYC
Teaching English in India
To exhiled Tibetans, newly arriving to Northern India.
New Zealand Arcade Game
Sheep sheering. How could I not fall in love with those wacky Kiwis?
The Nevis
Bungee. Where you meet people as crazy as you are.
You can check out my mom's non-profit to put art back into public schools:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.edudesigns.org/
Hello,
ReplyDeleteWow, I don’t think I’ve been all up in someone’s business like this before so I hope I don’t overstep my advising boundaries. Okay. This is the way I see it:
If you go abroad, say to Prague (i.e. the HEART OF EUROPE) for the TEFL program, it is temporary. Your European stay is guaranteed to not only enrich your soul, feed your wanderlust, and teach you a plethora of new things, but it will surely prove to be a huge asset to your subsequent career in advertisement. You will learn how the other “Westerners” (surely advertising is a field for western cultures) think, see amazing sights, eat amazing foods, and reach plenty of languages, from Spanish to Italian to French to Czech. You can see SO MANY PLACES, so easily!
Anyway, back to living out all your dreams. By the time you have sufficiently taken in all the Europe stuff and are starting to look for a place to settle down, Natasha will probably be doing her version of the same. You are best friends – I am sure your friendship has withstood its share of tests – some time and distance will be nothing for you guys. Perhaps at that point you can reunite. Perhaps it will be in New Zealand or New York. Perhaps you will want to start your families then…and the rest, as they say, is history.
Obviously, I don’t know you personally, only peripherally (high school, Becca, being told I looked like you Freshman year). I think the best people to advise you about this are people who have known you a long time. In the end, there is really no one that can tell you what to do (oh man, I have BEGGED people to do this for me) but I wish you the best of luck and now will have to ask Becca about your whereabouts periodically because after reading your dilemma, I have to root for you!
-Tamara
I'd have to say I agree with Pants/Tamara on this one. Maybe by going abroad, you could look at it as a combo package of helping others in the world by teaching plus career enhancement through perspective broadening and character deepening.
ReplyDeleteAdvertising will always be there. You'll have the comfort of knowing that every life experience you get under your belt (that's what she said) will eventually give you inspiration in your career. Maybe keep a diary of your travels, or make videos like you did with the asia adventure...
I have a flipside to my argument, since I have to play devil's advocate. If you stop exercising your advertising muscle for a while, will it wither? I know it's a truth with acting that if you want it as a career, you gotta do it all the time. Period. I don't know if its the same from an advertising perspective; maybe the resting is what truly makes that muscle grow. Because I see how truly amazing you are at your craft and know that a)It gives you pure joy as a career and b)you could achieve so much in that world and use all your greatness to do some great things for mankind. It's just a matter of whether you need that career now or you see it as a nice train ride; long and scenic. And the husband and babies and all that stuff will all hop the train along the ride either way.