I picked a steady job over trying to be a travel writer

After college, I had a choice: take a safe office job in Phoenix or use my savings to backpack through Asia and try to write about it. I took the job, and now, ten years later, I sometimes wonder about the stories I never wrote. Do you think giving up on a big dream for security is usually the right call?

4 comments

4 Comments

milesk272mo ago

What if the real cost of security is a life you never really lived? That safe job in Phoenix probably gave you steady paychecks, but it also gave you ten years of the same view and the same stories you never told. Your friend's documentary might have left him in debt, but at least he has those memories of something huge and real, not just another quarterly report. Playing it safe means you never get the amazing highs, but it also means you never really fail or learn what you're made of. Maybe the bigger risk is looking back at 70 and realizing you chose a comfortable cage over a chance, however slim, at something wild and true.

karen3612mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, that "comfortable cage" line hits hard. I did the safe office job for years and felt totally stuck. What finally worked for me was finding a middle ground. I kept my day job but started using all my vacation time for actual adventures, like hiking the John Muir Trail. It gave me those big memories without the financial ruin. It's not all or nothing. You can build a little wild into a steady life.

reed.skyler2mo ago

My buddy Jake sold his car to fund a documentary in Alaska... he lived on canned beans for a year, got some amazing footage of glaciers calving, but the film never sold. Now he's back, working construction and paying off the credit card debt from the whole thing. He says he doesn't regret the trip itself, just the financial hole it left. Makes you think the safe path isn't so bad sometimes.

markh851mo ago

That middle ground Karen361 mentioned is smart, but what if your dream can't be done in two weeks off? Jake's Alaska trip needed a full year. So is the real choice between a total gamble and just giving up on the big idea? How do you even decide what's worth that kind of risk?