Sissy's In Town

My Sissy is moving into the city this weekend! Many of us smaller town Midwestern kids end up or pass through this city on our way to grownupville. She's finished with college and, like most post-undergraduates, is a little unsure of what she wants to do next. It's a tough time, maybe in a slightly privileged way, when you go from being a pseudo-adult college kid to what is supposed to be a real adult state. There's pressure to define what you're going to do with your life and then take a meaningful step in that direction with a first job in that field. As if taking four years of classes with a bunch of other young, privileged, mostly sponsored kids is in any way an accurate preparation for "the real world." But you finish college, and everybody's next question is, so what next? When I was going through it, all I wanted to say was - I have no friggin' idea.

That feeling of unknowing, combined with the expectations that you turn into this driven, confident career-minded "adult" was enough to send me into a tailspin. It made me want to do nothing, as opposed to actually confront that question. And do nothing, essentially, I did, working two part-time jobs, delaying a planned move with my friend, and ignoring the whole resume/job application routine that was expected of me. I was afraid. Eventually, though, my friend got sick of waiting for me to get over my fear, and forced an ultimatum on me - move now, or find somebody else to live with. So move I did. Without a job, without a resume, and with a paltry sum saved up, I signed a lease on our new apartment, crossed my fingers, cried a little, and moved.

Once I was set up in the place where the next phase of my life was to begin, however, that fear disappeared - and excitement took over. I temped for a while, swallowed my collegiate pride, and took a job as an administrative assistant, which led to a great promotion and an excellent job in a field I never would have chosen nor given a chance, really. I do think to some extent you have to leave yourself open to possibility, and, though drive is admirable in its own right, sometimes being un-driven towards a specific field allows you to look at all of them as potentials. You aren't blinded by naive determination and letting opportunities pass you by; rather, by force of necessity, you allow them the chance to become your future. And you'd be surprised how well this can work out, if you only allow yourself to give everything a fair chance.