Do What You Love, Love What You Do.
Yesterday, world renowned author Dennis Lehane, (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island) came to my school, The Governors Academy, as our common book author.
This meant that our entire school, faculty and students alike, had been forced to read one of his books, Live by Night, over our Spring break.
The way these things usually go is as follows: students don’t read the book and are then dragged to workshops and seminars all day to hear the author talk for hours about a book they never read. However, this year was different. Not only did all of the students actually read and enjoy this book, but Dennis Lehane was an absolute joy to listen to. His stories instantly engulf and fascinate any listener, he is utterly hilarious, and most importantly: his advice to students is life changing.
Lehane started out his seminar by telling us that he is a writer today for one reason and one reason only: he ‘sucked at everything else’.
He loved writing ever since he was a child, but was told he could never make a career out of it.
After high school, he went to school for several different things, dropping and changing his major every year. When studying to become an accountant, he realized that he was both bad at it and unhappy with it. Lehane finally said ‘I would rather be a poor and passionate writer than an unhappy accountant’.
So for the third and final time, he changed his major to the only thing he was good at and enjoyed, creative writing, and he never turned back.
“I don’t mean for this to be a ‘follow your dreams’ type of speech,” Lehane said to us, “But follow your dreams. Stick to your gut”.
This line stood out to me.
Maybe it is because I am a junior in high school entering the college process and consequently being suddenly forced to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life within the next few months. Beyond myself, this line seemed to apply to every student in my place. We spend years trying to get into a good college, graduate with good grades, get a good job, and make good money. But what use is a good job and good money if it doesn’t make you happy?
Recently, I had to chose which courses I would be taking next fall. I had signed up for 7 classes when the schedule only had room for 6. Something had to go. I spoke with the academic dean, who told me the conflict was between taking AP photography and AP environmental science. She asked which one I enjoyed more, to which I instantly answered photography. Then the answer was simple, she urged me, keep photography and drop science.
When I told my college counselor that I planned on doing this, she gave me quite the reality check. If I did what I wanted to do, dropping science to pursue photography, I would be putting myself at a disadvantage to many colleges that I am interested in. Science was a necessity, photography was not.
So I was at a loss. I wanted to take photography, but I shouldn’t. I didn’t want to take science, but I should. It was decision time.
Finally I decided that I needed to take science. It would help my chances of getting into certain colleges and I could still pursue photography on my own time. I felt like I had made the right decision, choosing blatant necessity over silly desire, academic over creative, stable over unstable. That is, until today when Denis Lehane changed my mind.
To my college application’s dismay, I will be choosing impractical over practical, pursuing my love for photography over my disinterest in science.
I would rather be a happy photographer than an unhappy environmental science student.