Despite the fact that I am currently employed part time, I know that this job will only last for the duration of the school year. Thus, the search for a job continues. Being a graduate student, I am well aware of the difficulties of landing that dream job, let alone any job, so why is it that all I keep hearing is how, “really really hard it is” to get into a particular field. I am so sick and tired of hearing that phrase. Most everyone seems to equate difficulty with impossibility as if the only opinion students have after university is to wait until the vultures descend with hunger in their eyes. This “advice” that so many have offered to me is not without its price which is extremely exorbitant. It is corrosive and erodes away all confidence. If I had been similarly “encouraged” as a child, I don’t think I would have ever learned to read or write. It sometimes makes me wonder if this hackneyed phrase derives from actual difficulty or if it is just a covert way of ostracizing others so that a particular field is not inundated. After all, isn’t everything that is worthwhile difficult? I don’t delude myself into thinking that I will be able to pursue each and every one of my dreams but what I do know is this: if I had listened to everyone who had told me that something was just too difficult to pursue, I would have never achieved all that I have today.
Very true Courtney. Like you, I am an aspiring academic myself and am painfully aware of the arduous life that awaits me. Normal teaching positions, to say nothing of Tenure-track ones, are harder and harder to come by. However, the love for the subject makes the journey worth it. Plus, one should never wave the white flag before even wading into battle. If you love the subject and think that graduate school is for you, then its definitely worth a try.
I apologize profusely for not responding earlier but I would like to thank you for your comment! It was incredibly insightful and very comforting. It can sometimes feel as if I am drowning in this sea of uncertainty but, as you wrote, one should not anticipate defeat without first stepping foot into the water. I suppose such thinking serves as a protection mechanism to ‘soften the [potential] blow.’ Regardless, it truly is the ‘love for the subject [that] makes the journey worth it.’
I hope only the very best for you in your future endeavors,
Courtney