#Hugot: Love Is Not Enough

Ever since I was a kid, it has always been my dream to work as an editor—or just a part of the editorial staff, even as an editorial assistant or contributor—at a lifestyle or fashion magazine. Elizabeth Wakefield of Sweet Valley Twins and Betty of Betty La Fea were my role models: how I wish I could be in their shoes and work as a sassy editor for a posh magazine.

And just this month, as I was looking for a new career opportunity, I landed a job as an editorial assistant for a classy and well-known magazine. If it happened a few years back, when I was still so young and naive and starry-eyed, I would have jumped into the opportunity—with no second thoughts, without considering anything else but my wide-eyed zest to be what I always dreamed about.

But you know what? I didn't take the job. I declined.

It wasn't because I didn't like it; I did, I really did—the type of joy that brings you over the moon and makes your head feel so light that you just can't help but feel stupid and giddy but utterly happy. 

But once you've come to a certain age where you live by your own, feed and provide for yourself, and saving up for the future, a lot of things are in consideration, such as the benefits, the monetary compensation, the location, and most importantly, the career growth.

At the end of the day, feelings and emotions are not the only things that drive your life; you have your mind and brain too.

Love just isn't enough.

Things like these don't only apply to our careers. As much as I hate to admit it, being the hopeless romantic that I am, love is not enough in matters of the heart too.

You could love a person so much. You love what he was, what he is, and what he will be—but that doesn't necessarily equate to a committed relationship. 

In romantic pursuits, I have learned, that using your heart for decisions does not always give a positive outcome. For many years, I've had my fair share of failed relationships because of my inability to control my emotions and heed my mind's pleas of being reasonable. 

I have learned also that for things in your life to work well—may it be in your career, in your social relations, or your love life—you need to have a good balance between decisions with the mind and decisions with the heart.

Having a constant "mind over heart" mentality will tend to make you heartless and inhumane. Being too emotional and sensitive does not make things better too. There needs to balance.

And this is what I know: my mind and heart need to practice working as a team, together—and it all starts with me.