Lately, I haven’t been doing any writing. Unfinished blog posts, pending writing assignments and unopened modules kept hunting me every night yet I chose to ignore them. Either I’m too exhausted from my 9AM-7:30 PM shift of being a corporate slave or I’m just too uninspired and confused after the bitter rejection of most of my articles for a freelance writing company. I was just too depressed. I started questioning myself on almost every decision I have done. Am I just wasting my time trying to chase a dream I should have chased sooner?

DICLAIMER: Do you get a little bit sentimental when you're in your room on a weekend and the only company you have is your laptop and your overflowing thoughts? Well, this post is the outcome of such so if you are not into this kind of vibe, go read another post of mine (the less cringey ones!lol!) because this is just another weekend feels post I'd like share! 

Should I just focus on climbing that corporate ladder and be satisfied with a high position with an equally high salary? That would definitely remove my parents’ worries on my job-wandering-scene. Will I go for the financial stability that my current position promises? Or should I give up everything for a dream that I might not able to achieve? What was certain is that I have to choose one fast. I have to give up one in order to do the other or else I won’t be achieving anything. And so I thought.

These are the thoughts that I have been juggling inside my brain for days now. It’s all I can think about. And coming up with the decision has become too frustrating. It dawn to me that right now, I couldn’t afford to lose any of them. Who knew that my dilemma would be solved by an article on a newspaper that was distributed for free on LRT stations?

Here’s “Seeking New Direction” from Star Career Guide by Argie C. Aguja. Read on and you might start seeing your dreadful job into something more essential for your whole being.

More than seven years ago, an idealistic 20 year-old me walked into the halls of a large broadcasting network. As a Journalism graduate of the largest state university, landing a job straight into the media industry was a complete blessing and surprise. Far from the confines of the classroom, I was thrust face first in the fast-paced realities of Philippine mass media. Long hours, complex workflow processes, strict time constraints and some thorny colleagues made my already difficult job more stressful.

When I tell my friends the dynamics of my daily job, they’d say that my days are long, hard and somehow unsatisfactory. On my third year, the days became less and less exciting and more monotonous. Routine tasks and daily habits highlighted the repetitiveness and for a time, I became bored and unchallenged. Quite literally, I don’t feel the same energy when getting ready for work in the morning. The drive to excel was no longer there. Some days, I feel like a hamster stuck in a wheel, forever running forward going nowhere but not yet ambitious enough to jump out of it. I have been doing the same thing over and over again for too long but was scared to leave a secure job in such insecure times. There were feelings of being stuck, confused, nervous and somewhat anxious. I was not lost, but slowly felt like I’m falling behind.

Luckily with the help of colleagues, other senior employees and a motherly supervisor, I managed to get out of the rut, picking up a few hard-earned values that helped shape me as a person. I stayed on for another four years before moving on to a career in print media, carrying with me some important life lessons.

Work is just a part, not the whole

My job was based in the office, an eight-hour tedious shift that usually ended two or three hours after the designated time. Weeks passed, and after realizing that there is nothing I can do about the long hours, I focused on arriving and leaving on time, ensuring that I maximize my work shift to the fullest. Observing a strict schedule and keeping tabs on my daily deliverables more closely, I was able to finish my workload on time. Of the 24 hours in a day, I spend eight for my duties at the office. That left me with 16 more, plenty of time to pursue my other endeavors.

My outlook at the times spent in the office changed drastically. Before, I used to think that my shift consumed the entirety of my workdays. In reality, that was not the case. Time spent at work is just a part of the whole day.

Pursue your passions outside work

Realizing that I still have the most of the day to myself, life became a lot easier. I started going back to writing, one of my all-time favorite hobbies. I also started collecting books about history, especially about the World War II, as well as watching interesting films and informative documentaries. The dull commutes to work, the unpredictable weather in the stressful same old city mattered less because I knew that whatever happens at work, I could always come home to my hobbies.

My rediscovery of a long-lost passion for writing allowed me to identify with my younger self, to reconnect with whatever it is that got me excited and urged me to take a Journalism degree. It is these things I pursued on the side that gave meaning to my daily life and turned my hobby into my current profession.

Not all career ruts stem from a dislike of a current job or a mismatched career path-there are often other more complex factors to resolve. While it is still based on individual experiences, these dull phases are psychological states that if left unsettled, can deeply affect anybody unless one starts moving in the right direction.

As the song Don’t by Ed Sheeran goes, “Dreams you own, just set your goals. And have the utmost faith in it; tread your own path. You’ll never make it as a follower; you’ll never know where you will go or where you will be tomorrow.”