There are people out there right now who love their work. They delight in it. A man recently featured on NPR owns a turtle rescue hospital in Orlando, FL and literally pays to do his job. “That’s love,” he says coyly. And then there are many of us who are in jobs we abhore. We wake up and drag ourselves out of bed. We drink 2 cups of coffee and read most of the New York Times by 10am and…Oops, by late morning we have yet to start our work for the day.  As bad as it may seem, you’d be an idiot to quit your job if you’ve actually got one in these times—right? Well, that’s a matter of perspective. So, you’ll keep plodding away in the gray cubicle and hope that one day the tide will turn. Yet, maybe shifting your rudder could create a bit of a splash.

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I’m currently working in a profession where I’m torn. I wake up some mornings and love it. I’m on top of the world by the end of the day. At other times, I’m suicidal. I’ve literally made myself sick and barely slept nights before what some would consider to be a “normal” day at work. But the end is in sight. I’m in a program of sorts and I have a two-year contract I’m bound to. If I want to stay on, I can. Or, I can leave. If I stay in this profession, it is going to shift my entire life plan. If I leave, I’m starting over from scratch. But perhaps I’ll be moving back toward what my undergraduate degree prepared me for. Yet, I will need a bit more punch to make myself marketable. And let’s be honest, it’s a tough market even with the best of experience and stacked resume.

Today a friend asked me what the plan was for a year from now, when my contract will expire. I said solidly, “Grad School.”

“Grad school? I thought you wanted to work?” she questioned.

“How am I going to get a job right now? The economy is still going to be awful a year from now,” I replied.

“The economy is going to be awful three years from now.”

“See, perfect timing!” I said. “I’ll work for one more year, two years of grad school, and then I’ll be able to get a job!”

“Good point,” she agreed.

Yet, getting in to grad school takes lots of preparation. I’m working on a spreadsheet of programs, application deadlines, requirements, fees, scholarships and more. I took the GRE’s a couple of lonely summers ago and now I’m ready to make the jump. Much like many of my compadres in finance, I’ll be spending my free moments refining my resume, researching the organization and deciding where I should spend the next two years of my life. I’ve never been more excited about going back to school and being a student again. On campus, there is that comforting bubble effect that makes the rest of the weary world disappear and its problems seem fixable. I’ll have more time for my writing, a free gym membership and affordable housing. Blissful.

It’s funny. In a year’s time I’ve graduated from applying to jobs around the country to…applying to grad schools around the country. As one more alternative to suicide, join me and consider higher education and the safest investment out there: student loans.

See you in the book stacks.

-By Guest Blogger Grace Lichenstein, ReWriter for NYC blog Reassession