note: I wrote this late at night to vent and so it may not be the best writing I’ve ever done. There’s a lot of shift in thoughts going on in my head and it’s hard to articulate it smoothly into complete thoughts so please bear with me – or don’t read this, that’s fine too!
Howdy from Texas, ya’ll! After tomorrow, I will have officially been down here for one week. For those who don’t know, I’m here for my 3rd and final 3-month co-op rotation with Dow. It’s bittersweet knowing that my co-op is going to be over after this term. I’m definitely going to miss having the opportunity to give different types of jobs (and different cities!)
a test-run before I commit to one for an extended period of time. Which brings me to what compelled me to write this post even though I’m no longer in Europe. How do you pick a job based on a written description? It’s dangerous!
2013 was a great year for me. I traveled to numerous cities and countries, I saw a lot, and I learned a ton. One thing that I also experienced was a major shift in mentality. I’m graduating in 4 months and I’ll be starting a new chapter in my life. And for the first time, I feel like my options for what my next move will be are boundless. I could go into the chemicals industry and continue to beat engineering concepts into my head until all my creativity is killed with reason (I wonder if that would really happen) or I could go out on some crazy limb and try to become an artist or go into the film industry, which I’ve always thought would be fun. I could also find some happy medium where I’m able to continue to use both sides of my brain. The problem is,there is no roadmap or pre-determined plan based on my list of “wants” and that is a pretty daunting thought. We’ve all heard the saying, “You have to choose your own path in life” but holy cow I always envisioned choosing one out of 3 or 4 – not 3 million or 4 million! The scary thing is (I’ve been doing probably a little too much online research about ‘how to find the right career for you’, ‘best jobs for different personality types’, etc.) there are so many people out there that have been in the workforce for a while already and have yet to find a career that they’re truly passionate about. Is anyone finding them, or is it an endless search that we’re doomed to follow until we reach retirment?
Ok, anecdote time – a few years ago when Jasmine and I visited Chicago one summer, we were sitting by the big trough next to Millenium Park talking about careers. Her and I were both having our first internship experiences that summer and were both very underwhelmed by what working in the ‘real world’ was like. We were talking about how boring and routine work could get, when this question was posed: “Is anyone actually excited to get up and go to work in the morning? Is it possible to really love what you do?” At this point, an older man that was sitting by the fountain with his grand-daughter turned to us and said, “I worked a job for *54 years and not one day was I excited to get up and go to work. All the fun starts after retirement.” Take a moment to let those depressing words sink in… What do you do after hearing that?? Should we just condemn our careers and chase Jasmine’s childhood dream of becoming hobos? Well, I later learned that this man’s generation was one that didn’t switch jobs very often. People in his generation would find a good-paying job with a good company and they’d just be good with it until retirement. What I think is happening is that people are realizing they don’t want to settle for good. Why settle for good when you can have great? Well, great is what I want too and I’m having a heck of a time finding it in the form of a career. But it really makes sense. How many great things in life are easily attainable? Ok, maybe I should word that differently because chocolate chip cookies are pretty easy to get.. Um let’s see. How many of life’s most rewarding attributes are easily attainable? Not many, unless you are very lucky. So even though figuring out what I’m going to do is a long, difficult, and frustrating task, it’s important to keep in mind that if it wasn’t that way, the end result would not be great. And great is what I want.
* I made up the number 54. I don’t remember the number.