You Won’t Know a ‘Dream Job’ Until You Have It Accelerated Learning Resources

You Won’t Know a ‘Dream Job’ Until You Have It

During the holiday break, away from the stresses of college, I have learned firsthand about the stresses of real life. I have mourned over the fact that I will never again get a full five-week break for the holidays and I have learned the difficulty of balancing a relationship during this intense time of stress and anxiety in searching for a job. I have also applied for jobs and in doing so had to complete numerous online applications and submit hospital-specific recommendation forms, all of which has been a stressful experience, but not unexpected.

What I did find unexpected however was my realization that in my quest to find the “best” hospital in the perfect location in my dream unit, I have severely limited myself. I have limited myself by not being open to other possibilities. While I acknowledge that I should never settle for less than the “best,” sometimes you don’t know what you’re missing until it arrives, and in order for it to arrive you need to be open and welcoming of new possibilities.

I learned this the hard way by being so obsessed with finding my “dream job” that I alienated myself from those I love most. I was so preoccupied with having a plan, knowing where I was going to work, and having everything be perfect that I eventually had to give myself a big-girl time-out. I had to take a reality check and look at my situation from an outside view to fully realize that I was putting too much pressure on finding the perfect “dream job” to make myself happy. The perfect job exists for me, I am sure, but it will be very difficult to find if I have certain specifications and criteria it must meet in my search for it.

I don’t think I will truly find my dream job until after I’ve worked in that position for a while. I may have all these ideas of what is a perfect job for me now, but I believe that not until I’ve actually worked and gained experience will I know what that job is.

I have considered this a lesson learned during my holiday break, and I am thankful I realized this sooner rather than later. So while I will try to subdue my natural tendencies to stress and overanalyze in true Type-A fashion, I will also keep in mind that sometimes the best things simply fall into our laps, and it would be awfully tragic to let myself get in my way.

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