By Charlene M Brown
Do you ever get nostalgic? Wish you could go back to school, relive “the glory days”? No, this is not a Bruce Springsteen song, but there is some truth to be found in people wanting to go back to a time past.
For many of us, being in school was a time of little responsibility beyond getting our papers in on time and showing up for the exam. We had time to hang out with friends, go catch the latest movie and explore our passions.
Then we got to the so-called “Real World.” A world of bills that need to be paid on time every month, work deadlines always creeping up on us, paying rent (or perhaps a mortgage), a different set of responsibilities, if you will.
How did we get from a clear cut path (“get good grades so you can get a good job”) to one that is now so murky!?
And wasn’t there supposed to be some sort of transition!?
“What am I doing here?” “How did I get here?”
Good Questions.
Perhaps I can shed a little light.
Most of us graduated from school wholly unprepared to face the drastic shift that goes with it. Instead of only having something to do 3-4 hours a day, we are now expected to be at work for 8 or more hours a day with demands placed on us that we are often unsure of.
Instead of having a dorm full of people to seek advice from (because, they, after all, are going through about the same thing), many of us find ourselves in a workplace where we may not have figured out all the office politics just yet—who can I talk to about this, who is a “friend”, who is a “foe”?
Speaking of friends, how do I make them now that I don’t have 12 hours a day to find them, or now that we aren’t classified by major or interests?
And what about this job? I don’t really like it, but how will it look if I leave after so short a time?
I have a New Flash for you: Life is WHAT YOU MAKE IT!!!! Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and take that next step, terrifying as it may be. You won’t always have a GPS system to tell you to turn right in 500 ft (I know you heard that voice in your head! J). Life is not so simple, unfortunately.
But think about it. If Life always told you where to go, what fun would that be!? Don’t you remember when your parents told you
not to do something, that was the exact thing you went out and did? Where has your sense of fun gone?
Yes, the demands of work are different than the demands of school. But you’re doing it aren’t you?
Yes making friends can be more difficult, but remember you’ve done this before too.
Okay, so you don’t know exactly what’s in front of you, but this too will pass.
When you were a baby, when Mommy or Daddy hid behind their hands, you literally thought they had disappeared and this made you cry.
But guess what!? Gradually, you learned that just because you couldn’t see Mommy or Daddy didn’t mean they weren’t there or weren’t coming back! YOU GOT THROUGH IT!!
Just like you are going to get through this. Life does not end just because your path is no longer clear cut. Worrying about it is not going to solve it. Trust me! (This coming from a former Queen of the Worry Warts!)
So, I get it, you don’t want to mess up! But that doesn’t mean you can’t give it your best shot!
C’mon Ladies, lets grab those machetes and start making our own path and having a ball while we’re doing it!
Do You Love Your Path-Clearing-Life Now!? I DO!!
Related posts:
- Glory Days: Living in the Present and Taking Responsibility!
- Marshmallows and Pickles: Lessons Learned from Pregnant Ladies!
- On and Poppin’: All That I Am!
- Becoming The You You Want to Be: Be Your Own Renaissance Woman!
- So Many Bumpy Roads, So Little Time!
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© 2009 You Can Love Your Life Now!
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