They say that life really starts after you finish college and get a “real job”. But what is a real job anyway? Is it anything that falls between the realms of “9-5”? Something that gives you 40 hours? I think new millennials have a different definition for it. Anything that gives us passion doesn’t always fall between nine hours and a one hour lunch break. For our passion we work well into the night. We are up until three or four in the morning creating, planning, and working to then go to work our 9-5 or go to school.

Recently I found myself at the end of that stick where I got a part-time job but it feels like a full-time not leaving me any time to look for a full-time job let alone fully create. I am thankful for my job but it got me thinking about the future and the idea that I might “settle” because I need the money. It is no lie that everyone in this world needs money to survive. We need money to pay rent, to buy food to eat and clothes to dress ourselves. Money. Is. Essential. But I am in the process of learning that it should not take hostage of my thoughts every second of my life.

Yes, I have bills to pay but obsessing over when and where I am going to get my money shouldn’t overwhelm me. Because I am stressing about where I’m getting my money from, my anxiety goes overboard so I am trying to just live in the moment. Easier said than done but I have been very blessed with supportive parents and an understanding/ supportive, landlord. As a Christian, one verse that I absolutely love and keeps me calm in times of stress is Matthew 6:25- “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” This doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t work for it, it just means that when I don’t see the results as fast as I want to that I shouldn’t freak out. It just means that God is working on it.

So how does me having a “real job” relate with being a new millennial? It means I have to find a way to work on both every day. It means having to organize myself but most importantly finding the energy to get my creative work and projects done. It means working well into the night if I have to and getting my work seen. It’s scary and I am not going to lie its hard work but I don’t want to give up on working on my dream just because I have a “real job”.

God got me either way. He won’t let me fall or fail in either.