Dear Yuantee,
This week I was offered my dream job as an entry-level accountant at Ernst & Young in downtown Boston. I should be ecstatic, I know, but I'm hesitant. My three best friends and girlfriend are all moving into a three-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn while they chase their respective dreams, and a part of me wants to follow them, help them chase these dreams and, of course, look after my girl. I've been working toward this moment for 22 years, Yuantee, but now I'm wondering if punching numbers into an Excel sheet while sitting in a cubicle all day is as glorious as it's made out to be in the movies. What should I Zhu?
—Divided on Dearborn
DD,
I've been waiting for this question and the opportunity to share my own story, my own dreams. For 22 years (22, like you), I've sacrificed sleep, relationships, writing this column for 3 1/2, an acting career, a full-time position as the drummer of iconic Tufts band Knives For Sale, many pints of blood and a few tears, choosing instead to spend my time diligently, selflessly working on a cure for Parkinson's disease. I'm moving to Nashville next month to chase my dream alone at medical school while my three best friends and girlfriend move into a three-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn of their own. Personally, I'm dumping my girlfriend. I haven't told her yet, but she reads the column.
This does not, however, mean you should Zhu what I Zhu, but rather to take what I would Zhu, along with everything else you may consider, into account when you make your decision. And understand that as similar as our situations may seem, there are significant differences, the obvious one being the apparent natures of my dream and yours — mine being to save lives, yours to save money. But as you and the rest of my readers must know by now, I am far from the average, rashly judgmental eye. I admittedly don't know much about accounting and am willing to assume you have only the noblest intentions: curing the financial pains of suffering clients while diligently, selflessly working toward calculating that perfect, elusive common denominator between reckless overspending and tragic frugality. You know what I mean.
I'm also assuming you've attempted to land a job accounting in New York because if you haven't, you may as well stop reading now and look into that. I know Ernst & Young has offices in New York, if working for Ernst & Young specifically is indeed critical to fulfilling your dream as an accountant.
The question, essentially, comes down to how committed you are to your girlfriend. In your proposed arrangement, your "dream" scenario, you may be relegating yourself to seeing your beloved at most every other week and your best friends even less. While doable, this is clearly far from ideal. Picture the following plausible scenario, keeping in mind your ripe old age of 22:
You make $600 selling fresh eggs from a chicken coop in your backyard. You take this money and move to Brooklyn with your friends and hang out with them all the time. You share a bed with your girlfriend and pay half her rent. You let your relationship unfold naturally, without the pressures of distance. Find a job bootlegging or hand-modeling or something if you really can't find anything in accounting. Do some hard living while you're young. Chase someone else's dream. Reconsider yours for the hell of it. Look into Parkinson's disease, researching new treatments or measures of prevention. Save lives. Live yours. Collect experiences and relationships while cultivating the ones you already have. Then, do what you do best, DD. Add it all up.
Then get back to me.
At least, that's what I would Zhu.
