Wait, you never told me this would be hard

This is a guest post by Megan Pridemore for Student Stories. 

One school transfer, two major changes, three years of college later and I’m still not sure what I want to do with my life.

As a kid, planning my life was easy. I would graduate high school and get into a very prestigious college on a full scholarship. I would then become a marine biologist and swim with dolphins everyday for the rest of my life – no problem.

False.

No one ever told me that college was so difficult and expensive. And that going to college does not guarantee you a job in the field that you wish to work. It’s taken me 21 years to remotely figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life and no, it’s not marine biology.

I’ve recently started working as the graphic design editor for my bi-weekly campus newspaper – far from marine biology, I know.

Considering that this was the first job I’d gotten that was relevant to my major, I was completely excited to get some experience under my belt. After all, I had taken one whole semester of Intro to Graphic Design at my university, which made me more than qualified for the job…..at least, that’s what I thought.

For anyone who does not know, a graphic design editor designs the overall layout of the newspaper and places the stories and images on the page. As our first issue of the semester rolled around, I slowly realized that I had no idea how to layout a newspaper. I’d never done it before, so what did I resort to?

Google.

Google would surely teach me how to layout newspapers like a professional. Wrong.

As I struggled through the night to create something that resembled a newspaper, it finally occurred to me: this is only the beginning.

By trial and error I would find my way through the makings of my career.

And there would be many more nights when I will have fallen into another hole and wonder how in the world will I get out of this? That’s just another one of those things that no one ever told me as a kid.  It’s just something you have to figure out for yourself.

Even though I’ve gotten the hang of designing the newspaper, I always have to remember that there is still so much to learn. And there’s always more than one way to do things, so I can’t get discouraged if things don’t work out just right the first time.

Let this be advice to my first-day-on-the-job self and to anyone else who will face his or her first day on a new job, especially anyone who aspires to be a marine biologist.

About the Author:

My name is Megan Pridemore and I love doing creative pieces of work. I enjoy writing, crafting, design, singing, and acting. I like to embrace anything that provides a creative outlet to the mundane schoolwork that I endure from day to day.
Email: meganp912@gmail.com Twitter: @meggylou11