Dear Cary,
I am at a crossroads in life and it is difficult. I have been working since high school, building my résumé. I finished my Ph.D., and have had a difficult time getting a job. I am a bit picky -- I like romantic jobs, in certain geographic areas (generally the West and/or Alaska). I like adventure. Anyway, I've been offered such a job, studying what I want, in Arctic Canada (a village of 600 people, not a lot of English spoken, no roads to get there, $3,000 flight to get there). It is a job that will give me the experience to then go and get a better job; it is a great steppingstone. A ton of awesome experience. However, it is cold, dark (50 percent of the time), lonely, dry (no wine), not English-speaking, no fresh produce, dangerous (10 people have died on similar jobs since the 1970s), requires "barging" in food supplies, and it is far away from friends and family.
And then there is my boyfriend (of two years), and I love him. He is sweet, generous, kind; we love to talk to each other and cook together. We get along, it is very comfortable. This is the best relationship I have ever been in. He said he would rather pull out his teeth with rusty pliers than go to the Arctic. He hates the dark -- he has seasonal depression. However, he does not really have career ambitions, and doesn't have many suggestions on how we will earn a sufficient living for our family in the future (I think the Arctic gig will set me up for a good academic job that will be beneficial for our future). He says, do what you want to do for your career; I say it's not just for my career, it's for my spirit, my love of adventure and unique opportunities, and my disdain for suburbia. He says, "I don't want to be blamed for you not taking this job." I want him to say, "I love you, I don't want you to leave, we can work something else out." But instead, he says, "I love you, I can't handle being the reason for you not to take this excellent opportunity, but, Sweetie, I don't want to go up there." So, I have to make a decision.
It is not as simple as pro and con lists. It is not as simple as listening to my instincts, my gut, either, because honestly I can't tell what they are saying. Do you have any insights?
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Dear Should I Stay,
You say you don't know what your gut is telling you, but I think you do.
Hold the picture upside down. Then you'll see. You didn't say there's this guy you really, really like, who fits into your plans for the future, who utterly fascinates you, who is in fact just the kind of boyfriend you have been studying about for years, who in a certain way is key to your spirit, who attracts you even though he's cold, dark and so dangerous that 10 people have died on him since the 1970s. You didn't say that about your boyfriend. You said that about this village in the Canadian Arctic. That is where your passion is. That is where your life is headed.
Your boyfriend is not an adventure. Your boyfriend is a trip to the store. He may be a trip to the store in a comfortable automobile, but he is not the aurora borealis, or a pride of polar bears, or a village where people are living the way they have been living for a thousand years, or a rare lichen that thrives without light and heat like something from another planet.
The crazy thing is, this crazy thing you want to do is not even all that crazy. It's squarely in your career path. Again, hold the picture upside down: If you had said you had been working toward a certain career your whole life and then suddenly got this crazy notion to travel up to a village in Canada, it would seem you were running from something or hadn't thought things through. But this makes perfect career sense. It's simply a case of your big dream finally starting to come true.
Dreams have a cost. Dreams sometimes mean saying goodbye. I think you should say goodbye. Maybe he will still be there when you get back, but if you love adventure, soon there will be another trip that he doesn't want to go on but doesn't want you to turn down on account of him. I think it's an unfortunate pattern that could hamper your prospects for happiness. So say goodbye and go.
There may be one more lichen up there waiting to be discovered.
Find it.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
What? You want more?
Shares