Since picking up our life in the woods and moving to Tennessee, I’ve been faced with the task of finding work and building new community in Chattanooga.
Today my plan was to sit down and start creating the website for Om Forest Crafts. A home base for selling Austin’s hand carved spoons and wooden crafts as well as a personal blog and outlet for writing. This would further build my portfolio and writing experience, hopefully creating a bit more financial abundance for myself and my partner.
As I was mulling over pages and notes for the websites creation, I got a phone call offering me a job at a local burrito shop. This is the first job offer I’ve received since moving cross-country.
If I take the job, I would be in a kitchen prepping or serving from the line five days a week. My partner and I would have to juggle our vehicle to make things work, and it could get tricky with our schedules not matching up.
Clearly, it’s not my dream job, just a way to bring in cash.
I dream of getting more deeply involved with global communities through connective writing, political + environmental journalism, selling hand crafted goods, and networking with folks of similarly creative mindsets.
I have been focusing more and more on aligning all my actions, my words, my thoughts, my consumption patterns—everything—with my morals and true goals in life. Then this job opportunity comes up.
While it isn’t in my life-plan or even really within my moral goals, do I take it?
I would love to make a difference in the world. I recognize that I have been given privilege born as a white female in the US. I’m sure that it's more privilege than I can begin to understand at this point in my life. I seek to harvest that fucked-up placement of power in a manner that is beneficial to the underprivileged and dismantled members of our communities.
Is serving burritos on foil and handing out Styrofoam to-go boxes my next step?
Will this be fulfilling or simply pull me farther from my true goals?
How far do I need to step away from my skills and true desires simply to earn an income?
With my partner fully supporting me financially right now, I really feel like I’m not pulling my weight in our relationship.
If I take the job, I will have less time to focus on the things I do care about, plus much more stress from juggling schedules and everyday interactions serving pushy customers. If I don’t take the job, I risk depleting my savings until I’m flat broke and still needing to pay credit and student loans, praying that our online presence is enough to pay for my near-minimal costs of living.
If anyone has any advice on this, please let me know!
Till next time,
be sweet, stay wild
