Why?
Because I love music and I love to help people. It's a profession I've looked into quite a bit, and I'm confident it's the career path I want to choose.
When I came into Wartburg, I was majoring in music education and music therapy. The education major was there only for job security. I don't want to graduate and be poor because music therapy jobs aren't available or they aren't paying well enough. However, I dropped that during the second week of school because I was getting too stressed thinking about it. I also decided to stick with music therapy alone because I didn't feel passionate about teaching music. Especially instrumental music which is required in Iowa.
My roommate is a music education major, and one night she was telling me how excited she gets in theory class when she realizes she will some day teach someone else about music theory. Me? I just get excited to apply the concepts into a therapy session. I was majoring in something I didn't love only because I thought it would help me out in life more because I will get paid more.
It's great that a lot of people attending Wartburg are majoring in biology with the intent to become a successful doctor or surgeon or what-have-you, but I don't have that. And yes, I chose my major. I'm not complaining about that. I love what I'm learning, and I'm going to love what I'm doing. What I am saying is that I'm not as confident as others are about paying off my student debt earlier on in life. Music therapy is valuable, but it's not as valued by society and, therefore, not paid as highly.
I'm fine with that as long as I can live comfortably with whatever salary I will get in four to five years.
But for now Iam concerned about college tuition and scholarships. Thinking about the inflation of tuition frightens me. I'm not one of the lucky few that got a full ride or even pays less than $20,000 for my whole college career. I worked hard in high school, I went to scholarship days, I tried out for a Meistersinger scholarship. Yes, I am receiving plenty of financial aid. But it's not enough for me to not care about money while I'm here.
Yet getting paid a lot of money to do work I hate won't make me happy. Doing work I love and not getting paid so much will make me happier than the former option. I hope in my future I have the opportunity to do what I love and have a comfortable income. Substance is number one in my life. This is the passion for a job, the happiness, etc. All the other adornments, such as money, are necessary in this day and age, but not of the utmost importance in my mind. Perhaps as I grow older it will become more important because it will be constantly hammered in my head that money=success.
There will always be those rich people that are unhappy and envious of those who are not as rich and happy, and then there will be those who are happy with what they are doing, but not making so much money. And then there are those who are super duper lucky and are making a lot of money doing what they love. The key is to not compare and despair. Choices are made in life, and we must live with them.
So, in conclusion, let us go out in the world and do what we love. Money is just an added bonus, not a foundation to living.
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