By Josh Keith –

Okay, hear me out before you scoff and click on another blog. I myself have many passions which I love. I have various passions, and I would never give them up—from the adrenaline rush of setting up anchor and climbing a mountain face to the overly nerdy conversations of new Marvel movies to come. Here’s the kicker: Don’t follow your passions. Now, what I mean by this is that too many people nowadays don’t understand what passion is, or rather what it should be. Passion is happiness; it’s fun something fun that you love, but we have bit of a crisis going on these days. People my age don’t know how to work toward anything but their passion.

One of my childhood and adulthood heroes is Mike Rowe. If you don’t know who that is, I suggest looking up the TV show Dirty Jobs. This show starred Mike Rowe and the people of America who did the toughest and dirtiest jobs in America—sewer cleaning, pest control, construction, firework making, and my personal favorite: ostrich farming. He did all the jobs that most people these days wouldn’t even want to consider to be their career, and that’s the problem. Ever since I started working at sixteen years old, I have been constantly asked if I am going to go to college. Anyone who asks this and hears my answer of “No, I’m actually working forty+ hours and following my career” is shocked and almost appalled and ask with worry in their voice if I plan on going soon. Then they try to convince me that I should go. I’m proud to say that I’m a rarity. At the same time, it’s a shame to think that being a working individual at my age isn’t up to par. And what astounds me more is that people my age are completely convinced that a degree in a certain field guarantees them their dream job.

Millions of young adults are met with what Mike Rowe calls “The Dirty Truth.” Even if you’re passionate about something, that doesn’t mean you should make a career out of it. Rather, when you work hard and well enough at something, you become passionate about it. This truth never sets in for people my age. If it does, it’s after tens of thousands of dollars in debt and a job at Starbucks that they are met with the reality that their dream job is most likely only that: a dream.

Hard working jobs are out there, ripe for the taking. All it requires of you is to find pride in the completion of something that isn’t easy—to be more than another fish in the sea of liberal arts majors and instead be the fisherman. So, for all young adults out there who struggle picking their expected major, there are always jobs out there for those who seek hard work, pride, and vocation. And always remember that there’s no shame in the old mentality of blood, sweat, and tears, and that it’s time for us “to get ready to get dirty.”