To pick a place or a profession?

by Julie Rosenfeld (Canada)

I didn't expect to find Canada

My older brother and I got up at 6:00am everyday to swim the Manly to Shelley swim. A mile of beautiful ocean water to wake you up. We would then walk to Hemingway's Coffee Shop, a beach front cafe with a killer espresso and talk about what was next. He was finishing off a business degree and surfing everyday. I had just arrived in Australia and was working in a bike shop nearby. One day we are discussing the importance of the place you live in over the job you hold. For him, it was important to live somewhere that resonated with his passion, that had all of the natural amenities he could want in life. From there, it didn't matter where he worked because he'd love his life. I countered with wanting my passion to be my work, choosing a job because it was the next step in my career and moving to wherever in the world to have it. We each followed our theory and waited to compare. Adam moved to the rocky mountains, Winter Park, Colorado, he worked in the rental shop and at the liquor store in town and he skied 200 days that first season. I moved to Red Deer, Alberta and I worked for a multi-sport event that prides itself on creating the best possible competition opportunities for youth athletes in Canada. One year later we are driving through the rocky mountains of BC and Alberta on a camping trip and evaluating our outlooks on life. As it happened, we both have inched towards the middle, my job was not fulfilling enough to outweigh the old-school conservative oil town I lived in. A town where you need to drive a car and can see farmland that stretches for miles in every direction. His life felt less meaningful because his job didn't bring him joy or passion, he learned that he needed a fulfilling career to be happy. We discussed in depth what was missing, the idea that no place is perfect but if you stay put, maybe you can build perfect around you. Fast-forward another year, Adam stayed put, he switched departments and stuck out his dream of a life in the rocky mountains that involved a job that could pay for his life-style. I moved on, to Eastern Canada, a place by the ocean a smaller more liberal city, another contract of the same work. It was here that I discovered that this is not the work I am most most passionate about. It is adjacent to the work I care about, I love sport, I enjoy creating more accessible opportunities for people to be active but that is not what the events work rewards you with. I had improved my place but not my job. While Adam had improved his job, could afford to live with fewer roommates, could explore getting more certifications towards his goal of becoming a mountain guide. He was now situated in exactly the right place to continue growing his career. We make our own choices in life whether they are big decisions like where to live or what career to pursue or smaller decisions like where to go for a weekend get-a-way. I truly believe the freedom to live and work in multiple countries is one of the greatest privileges that my brother and I have in our lives. We also feel drowned in options sometimes, we find ourselves starting from scratch more often than our peers and on many occasions feeling stuck by decisions we have made. The one thing that is clear to me is that there is no 'right' choice when it comes to place or profession, the balance matters. Just like a good cocktail depending on the ingredients the quantities change. You need to trust yourself and eventually, the rest will fall into place.