Education & career vs. Lifestyle & passions
I'm feeling rushed as I've just come home from a full day's worth of classes. Feeling too rushed so I'm going to have to miss the first day of meditation + yoga; I would rather stay home and create my own personal stillness without someone having to tell me to... oh, and it's free. I feel the need to release the thoughts that's been plaguing my mind for the last couple of days:
I'm in a fruitless and now hopeless search for a summer farm internship. It seems it would've been wise to start my search earlier months before April (which is usually when summer farm internships start). It has also been difficult to find a farm that is willing to accept interns who can't stay for the whole growing season (April - mid October/November); I would only be able to stay until September because that's when fall semester starts. At this point, I'm cursing education and questioning my purpose in following this path to higher learning. This begs the question(s)...
Do I need to go to university in order to pursue an agrarian lifestyle? Do I need this Environmental Studies B.A. degree? What benefit would it give me in pursuing a career in agriculture, specifically farming? (Do farmers even need degrees?) Am I on this path to higher learning so I can be in alignment with what is expected out of me in society? In truth, as of today, I view a B.A. degree as something I can fall back on if farming doesn't work out. The thought of having to spend thousands on education and ultimately pay back loans (and be in debt in the process) for a piece of paper that "I can fall back on" is something that increasingly raises concern. I view this whole farming/living sustainably/growing food as something that is a lifestyle, not a career with the intention of making money. Why, then, am I on this path to acquire a piece of paper that will, in essence, just be a validation of my self-worth as an "educated" human-being? As one can see, this whole thought process is a cyclical... having no answer to my questions... can someone give me some insight? What have your experiences been in terms of education and pursuing your passions? Where are you on your path?
I feel, perhaps, that this will eventually work itself out... I know there are many opportunities yet to be presented and forks on my path that I can take :-)
For now, I am fantasizing of living a nomadic life, dreaming of babies in the woods (my womanly baby urges are kicking in), and being connected to the land up north.
I'm in a fruitless and now hopeless search for a summer farm internship. It seems it would've been wise to start my search earlier months before April (which is usually when summer farm internships start). It has also been difficult to find a farm that is willing to accept interns who can't stay for the whole growing season (April - mid October/November); I would only be able to stay until September because that's when fall semester starts. At this point, I'm cursing education and questioning my purpose in following this path to higher learning. This begs the question(s)...
Do I need to go to university in order to pursue an agrarian lifestyle? Do I need this Environmental Studies B.A. degree? What benefit would it give me in pursuing a career in agriculture, specifically farming? (Do farmers even need degrees?) Am I on this path to higher learning so I can be in alignment with what is expected out of me in society? In truth, as of today, I view a B.A. degree as something I can fall back on if farming doesn't work out. The thought of having to spend thousands on education and ultimately pay back loans (and be in debt in the process) for a piece of paper that "I can fall back on" is something that increasingly raises concern. I view this whole farming/living sustainably/growing food as something that is a lifestyle, not a career with the intention of making money. Why, then, am I on this path to acquire a piece of paper that will, in essence, just be a validation of my self-worth as an "educated" human-being? As one can see, this whole thought process is a cyclical... having no answer to my questions... can someone give me some insight? What have your experiences been in terms of education and pursuing your passions? Where are you on your path?
I feel, perhaps, that this will eventually work itself out... I know there are many opportunities yet to be presented and forks on my path that I can take :-)
For now, I am fantasizing of living a nomadic life, dreaming of babies in the woods (my womanly baby urges are kicking in), and being connected to the land up north.
Comments
Post a Comment