Dream On

   When I reflect back on my life I wonder if all of the choices I made were better than the alternate. Sometimes I wish that I would have sought opportunities sooner; because once I attained positions or accomplishments I thought of the time I could have spent doing those things if I had not procrastinated or honestly, been slightly afraid to pursue them. But then I remember what I always say to myself when I’m nostalgic for moments that I wish I would’ve appreciated deeper, everything is a living experience. Cliche bells ring in your head, but it’s true, it’s my truth and philosophy about life encompassing all bad choices later serving as lessons learned for future encounters. The beauty in life is that people are resilient; your success and possibilities shouldn’t be limited by bad choices (unless it’s something unforgivable like running a dog fighting pit or kidnapping), in turn life should be driven and progress from short-sighted decisions. Those seeking to better themselves and continuously striving for a dream after life obscures and delays their path are the most hard-working and determined, I speak from experience.

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.

   Everyone says college is unforgettable and the best time of your life, they weren’t mistaken. Approaching my second year having received my B.A. degree in Communications and English I find myself thinking about how many things I wish I would have done or become involved in earlier. For example, writing longer for The California Aggie (UC Davis), interning at a local newspaper or even blogging instead of just doing writing assignments on Shakespeare or The Canterbury Tales. But then I remember the things I did do like: write for the school paper while interning at a local Spanish TV news station, join and uphold positions in a sorority, obtain my first job EVER, graduate with a GPA above 3.0, teach an indigenous impoverished community in rural Panama along with other things. I remind myself, but not in a justifying manner, that things could have been worse as I could have graduated without any experience in what I will develop a career in. Despite my feelings of remorse for not pursuing opportunities sooner, I refuse discouragement because bad choices and life will not deter me from the ultimate goal.

KUVS 19 Maribel Guardia (left) and I (right) during a live interview at my public relations internship with the California State Fare (Sacramento, CA). She remembered me from my internship at her station so I wasn’t too nervous.

   Everyday that goes by I think about and visualize myself in the job of my dreams, I’m not there now and not even in the field, but advances are being made to get there; it’s one of the reasons I began blogging and registered for the Blogging101 course. The field of work I’m involved in now is far from anything I imagined myself ever doing, but as long as what you’re doing is leading you to where you want to be, it’s not lost time. Many who graduate struggle to find employment or one that pays enough to meet the morbid student-loan payment due date, but fortunately that’s not my case. The job I have isn’t what I wished for, but it’ll help me be more stable in the future and with less debt. The reason I don’t love my job is why I’m making efforts to still pursue what I love. I want to wake up and be happy to go to work and I believe envisioning oneself doing whatever it is your long-term goal may be, is essential to success. It’s easy to remain at an unwanted position because of money and the comfort that comes with it, but dollar amounts don’t equate to happiness and is precisely why you have to keep your goals in mind.

   Of course, for those like me who aren’t working, but hope to one day, in a field correlating with their degrees, it’s not just up to yourself to obtain the job of your dreams. Yes, perseverance, determination and dedication may get you 95% of the way there, but ultimately someone has to hire you and believe in you. For that hiring manager, director or whomever stands between a dream and reality I say, don’t reject the graduate who spent some time away from the field their looking to return to. A leave of absence doesn’t signify complete obliteration of a dream. People change their minds and have hindering circumstances, but those who through it all still strive for the goal are the most dedicated.

A direct link to one of my published articles. It was proclaimed one of the best “campus news” stories.

   To my utmost dream reader, a future hiring editor or news director, it’s a pleasure to encounter you. Don’t mistake the time I spent away from journalism and the media as a lack of effort to be here earlier, but instead see that I have experience and in various communications sectors. Or does experience after time lose its value? Notice that I continued writing and pursuing positions involving my career interests and that after however long I was absent from the discipline, I returned. There wasn’t a day where I didn’t think about retrieving my voice recorder from my safe keeping to interview sources or reading the final product of numerous hours of researching, writing and editing on gray newspaper.

   Too often it seems that people get lost in life and renounce career dreams, but if you’re not happy with what you’re doing for a living, how can you live happy? In order to achieve, measures have to be taken.

1. Envision yourself obtaining your goal.

2. Make a list of how you’re going to achieve it.

3. Determine a date for when you want to accomplish it.

4. Take steps to cross items off your list.

5. Make connections, even if you already have some. The more connections you have, the better your possibility for knowledge of opportunities.

   “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get,” but if chocolates is what you want and you find the aisle, you’re bound to savor the perfect piece to satisfy your craving (Forrest Gump).