If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.
It's true what they say about work not feeling like work when you genuinely enjoy what you're doing. Recently, I dropped by where I worked in university to meet with a friend who still worked there and was finishing up her shift. At the cash register, one of my old colleagues that I got along with very well was working. I don't think I had seen her since leaving that job, so we did a quick catch up. She asked me the typical questions that you ask when you haven't seen someone in a long time. "How have you been?", "How's your boyfriend?" and "How are you liking your new job?". I told her that I had actually been promoted to Communications Specialist and that I was finally doing the job that I had been to school for. She smiled at me with excitement and said "Do you love it?". I smiled from ear to ear.
A while back, I wrote about working outside of your field after graduating and how those experiences shape you to be a better employee and get you towards where you want to go. I wrote this post when I had recently made the switch to my new position. Now that it's been a few months, I feel like I can talk about it even more and talk about loving your work based on actual experience.
My position has evolved since the initial shift. Originally, I was asked to take on the social media for the company and to continue putting together our biweekly newsletter, all while keeping on my executive assistant responsibilities. With social media came a lot of graphic design. Being who I am, I had lots of creative ideas and took it upon myself to make videos. Once again, I surprised my managers with skills they hadn't realized I had. Honestly, I didn't really realize I had them either. I was asked to take on the graphic design as a whole and continue to think outside the box in terms of our communications.
I've really been loving the challenges that have been presented to me in the last few months. I finally feel as though I have somewhere that I can frequently direct my creative energy. I have A LOT on my plate, but I like it. I can never say that I am bored. Many of my projects are overlapping into each other, which challenges me to be creative with my approach and to always look at the bigger picture. This kind of creative and strategic thinking fuels me.
Every day, I look forward to sitting at my desk and tackling my to-do list. I mean, I don't wake up and am instantly excited to go to work, but I am always excited to work on projects. It makes such a big difference in your life when you genuinely enjoy your work. We spent so much of our lives at work, that I think that it is important that we enjoy being there. We may not get there right away, but with hard work, we get there.
If a job is making you truly miserable, is it worth staying there? I understand the need to feel loyal to where you work. I've tried pulling strings to get to an interview for a job that I really wanted while not missing any or too much work at a job that I hated and ended up blowing my shot. Looking back, I wish I had just done something for me to give myself a chance to do something I really wanted to do.
Like I always say: Things work out in the end.
Find love in what you do, because that way, you will truly never work a day I'm your life.