Posts in Life
Rainy Day Revelations
Rainy Day Revelations

With the new Mumford and Sons album streaming through my ears (and still desperately wishing everyone was as passionate about this album as I am), I meandered through tree-shaded London streets, alone with my wandering thoughts in a city of seven million.

I returned to sit beneath a tree – my tree – on Primrose Hill, the city unchanged before me as the spring breeze carried shadows across the blooming city.

One year before, I had sat beneath this very same tree, the same skyline set within my eye line, wearily contemplating my “what’s next” after I returned home to the prospects of life post-graduation. Yet here I was - an entire year between that moment and this one - just as in the dark about what I’m doing with my life as I was then.

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Life, Career, Dreams, TravelAlly WillisFeatured, ArchiveComment
If Not Now, When?
If Not Now, When?

Yesterday I booked a flight to Dublin. This whole backpacking thing was turning into such a theory; I seriously needed to stop talking about it and just do it already. I found a bitchin’ round trip deal that will allow me three full weeks in Europe towards the end of the summer. For the most part, I will be alone. My mom does not know about any of this yet.

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Life, TravelLane SasserFeatured, ArchiveComment
Out On My Own
Out On My Own

Throughout the years, I often found myself questioning my choice of school. My high school friends were meeting new people while traveling and living out of the country. They would come home with adventurous anecdotes while I felt stifled by the same small-town charm that once drew me in. I needed to try new things and make interesting choices of my own.  

Within six months, I changed my major, joined a sorority, traveled alone to Europe, and saw movies alone (yes, in that order).

These were the first steps that led me to make a huge, life-changing decision a few months ago.

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Graduation, LifeOlivia LandryComment
Murphy's Law: What Can Happen, Will Happen
Murphy's Law: What Can Happen, Will Happen

As a twenty-something who is moderately to severely active on (read: addicted to) social media, I’m overwhelmed daily as I scroll through infinite purportedly uplifting articles about my generation: “20 Reasons Why Your 20s are the Best Years of Your Life,” “37 Ways to Turn Into Beyoncé” or “12 Random Quotes by Taylor Swift with Accompanying Pictures That Will Make You Wish You Were Her BFFL.”

On the flipside, I’ve also seen blog posts claiming that your 20s are actually required to suck, like it’s some unwritten rite of passage. Like if those years don’t make you want to shave your head Britney-style, you aren’t doing them right.

C’mon.

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Life, Dreams, CareerChristina BergerFeatured, ArchiveComment
Heartbreak Happens
Heartbreak Happens

I have grown up more in the past few months than I have in the last 22 years of my life, and I owe all of that to heartbreak. Now don't get caught up thinking this is some mopey post about a boy because it isn't. (And trust me, I would be the LAST person to give advice about that.)

Heartbreak happens all the time. You lose a friend. You get rejected from a job. You realize that bad things happen to good people and that money means way more than you ever thought. And yes, sometimes you do lose love.

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Life, RelationshipsEmily YoungFeatured, ArchiveComment
I Want to Live
I Want to Live

“How vain to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”

My friend presented this Thoreau quote to me one evening as we sat at a sparsely-populated bar waiting for a band to go on, discussing life and the inevitable question of what exactly it is that we want to do with it.

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Dreams, Career, LifeAlly WillisComment
Rolling with the Punches
Rolling with the Punches

This isn’t exactly what I expected to be dealing with during my first year after college, but it’s NBD. Or maybe it is a BD and I’m just too ignorant right now to realize that it’s a BD. But regardless of BD status, I do know that all will be well in the end. After all, it could be worse. At least I’m #blessed that modern medicine exists and #doubleblessed I can stay on my parents’ health insurance for now.

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LifeAlly WillisComment
Comparison: The Thief of Joy
Comparison: The Thief of Joy

As a recent graduate, I’ve spent the past several months frantically searching for jobs, trying to kick start my career in God-knows-what and find some way to financially support myself until I figure out what I really want to do. Here is my update: the job market is hell. Apparently “entry-level” now requires two to four years experience, a personal reference from Obama and a blessing from the Pope.

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Life, CareerEmily YoungFeatured, ArchiveComment
Singing in the Rain: Finding the Sunlight in a Downpour
Singing in the Rain: Finding the Sunlight in a Downpour

We’ve all heard the idiom “when it rains, it pours.” When something goes wrong, it feels like everything else that could possibly go wrong, does. Maybe your storm is very literal. Maybe it’s raining as you power-walk to campus on your way to an 8 a.m. test, and just as you’re about to cross the street, a car’s wheels catch a nearby puddle and douse you. (True story, y’all.) Or maybe your storm is abstract: the stress of life hangs over you like one of those cartoon thunderstorm clouds.

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Life, CareerChristina BergerFeaturedComment
The Art of Reflection
The Art of Reflection

I would imagine we all have that certain year pinpointed as “the best year of our life.” 2014 was that year for me. And now, it’s over.

But as my friend reminded me on the drive home New Year’s Eve, I mustn’t tell myself that “2014 was the best year of my life” as if all upcoming years will continually pale in comparison. Sure, 2014 was the best year of my life, but only so far.

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LifeAlly WillisFeaturedComment
The Laundromat Chronicles
The Laundromat Chronicles

Post-Graduation Expectations: Traveling to new and exciting places you have never gone before.

Post-Graduation Reality: Traveling to new and exciting places you have never gone before.

That’s right! I did it! And this trip left an impression on me and changed my outlook on what my life should be like one month after graduating college.

So where did I go?

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LifeKendall CherryComment
Rebuilding Your Foundation after Graduation
Rebuilding Your Foundation after Graduation

I don’t think there’s really a way to prepare for the dynamic change that happens between graduation and life beyond college, but some part of me thinks that a Construction Science class or two might have helped me get started on rebuilding the foundation of my life post-grad. I had grown accustomed to waking up early, going to school, doing homework and going to sleep. I was used to the college perks of having friends just 10 feet or a 10-minute drive away. If I stayed up too late, I didn’t really have to go to my 8 a.m. (sorry, Mom), and if I didn’t want to study, Netflix enabled me to waste afternoons wondering when Ted was finally going to catch a break.

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Life, CareerLauren LyssyComment