I have never been so exhausted physically, mentally, or emotionally in my entire life. When one imagines a first grade classroom they often picture a day full of laughter, sing-alongs, and games. But when I first stepped into the classroom, a bright eyed bushy-haired undergraduate, I was quickly smacked upside the head by reality. I was tasked to educate 28 students, on my own, for 8 hours a day with a brief 15 minute lunch to replenish and rejuvenate. I stayed up for hours on end and gave up my weekends to scramble and find materials for creating lesson plans in a school with a nonexistent curriculum. I found myself crying at night for not taking up the cubicle life I had originally planned and becoming angry at the lack of opportunities for my kids in Detroit. So after two years of scraped knees, morning weather chants, and the most creative gifts in the world (I once got a pile of dried glue that a student saved me), I traded in my lesson plans for a laptop.

Now I am struggling once again. I am still exhausted at the end of the day, but when I was teaching there was a different sense of accomplishment accompanying the days end. My hugs and smiles accounted for gold, and I felt that my small world of six year olds had benefitted from my presence. I am navigating a new world where a portion of my paycheck isn’t love, and that is a transition in itself. How do I navigate this crazy career path that lies ahead of me? How do I find a career that balances my need for financial security and emotional stability, while still confirming my need to make the world a better place? As Frederick Buechner’s infamous quote states, “The place God calls you to be is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

I hope to use this blog platform to engage with those who have found this place, where their passion aligns with the needs of the world. They may have paychecks largely funded by love or otherwise, but they will be people whose passion and drive have helped steer their career path. By meeting with people from all walks of Detroit, I can learn a bit more about myself and hopefully help those reading discover their own “place” where deep gladness and the world’s hunger meet.