Everybody will be faced with that god-awful choice between doing what it is we want to do and what we really should do. It can be as simple as a choice between writing that research paper you have been putting off or a night out at the bars with your friends.
The answer is always obvious: you do your work before you go play. These are all small sacrifices we make, something we probably won’t even remember doing in ten years.
There are times when it’s not a small, insignificant choice we are asked to make. Instead, sometimes it is something so much more difficult than having a good time with friends or doing some work. Sometimes the choice is between love and money.
I’m talking about giving up something you love in exchange for time to make money. I have recently had to make several large-scale changes in my life, involving that very same choice; I was tasked with deciding whether to give up something I love in order to free up time to make money.
The issue of giving up something you love in order to make a few bucks may seem like an easy solution, “You can always make more money, but how many more opportunities to do this will you have?” This is the constant refrain in my head.
It is easy to say that happiness and fun is more important than some money in almost every instance, until you actually find yourself in the position to make that decision.
I’ve asked myself whether the things that make me happy are worth a few hundred dollars a month, and I can never come to a conclusive answer.
What makes the decision easier, though, is the knowledge that it’s not really about extra spending money for me to take to the bars.
Instead, it’s about opportunities for my future.
That money will help me move across the country to take advantage of opportunities that I didn’t even know existed until recently. I may be giving up my senior year to do some menial work and put a little money aside, but what that little money will help me achieve will probably be better for me in the long run.
I like to think of myself as sacrificing a little happiness now in order to get more later on. I’ll always be forced to contemplate if giving up the best part of my college experience was worth it, and I’ll never be able to answer it truthfully.
Despite my own apparent ease at choosing money over love, I can assure you it was no easy decision. I would urge anyone who is at the same crossroads in life to take time to really consider the ramifications of what they are giving up or taking on in exchange for something they love. Call me a hypocrite but despite my own choice, I would always advocate for choosing love. I may have chosen to give up something I love to better my life in the long run, but if someone asked me point-blank to choose between love or money, love would win every time.
Chelsea Mellin can be reached at
cmellin@keene-equinox.com