Why So Miserable?
Why So Miserable?

I’d like to say that this entire scenario was nothing short of ridiculous, except I’m pretty sure I felt genuinely distressed. To my core. Distressed. 

Other people in traffic that night probably experienced similar unrest; I’m just not convinced they chose to heighten it. With a dangerous playlist playing and a mind wandering, it was I who set the stage for any and all anxieties/doubts/feelings to surface. Being in the car alone for an extended period of time will do that anyway, but my actions were textbook fuel-to-fire. 

It makes me wonder: am I the only one who eats this wallow-y shit up? 

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LifeLane SasserFeatured, ArchiveComment
Crawl
Crawl

Basically, I feel like my life is one big confusing mess.

I used to think I was that girl who had everything figured out. I had a plan. And when I have a plan, you better move out of the way because I move forward full speed ahead. But for the first time in my life, I have no clear cut plan. As Crater face from Grease would say “Rules? There are no rules.” “Plan? There is no plan.” And this is driving me crazy.

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LifeKaitlyn BundrickComment
On Homesickness and Other Matters of the Heart
On Homesickness and Other Matters of the Heart

Thanksgiving is so damn American. We annually celebrate our declaration of American-hood (Because what else says America!!! other than the Plymouth Plantation settlers saying, "Here we are, y’all.  Let’s eat some meat and pray"?) with one huge, gluttonous expression of thankfulness. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love America and I love this great American holiday. In years past I’ve often rolled my eyes at my parents shepherding my sister and me around the country to various relatives’ homes. Thanksgiving can mean forced conversation with distant aunts that ask what happened to your seventh grade boyfriend.  

However, being some 5,000 miles away from home can turn the thought of tryptophan comas on La-Z-Boy recliners into something much more idyllic.

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Travel, Life, RelationshipsKelsey WorshamFeaturedComment
Comparison Game: Facing Adulthood with Social Media
Comparison Game: Facing Adulthood with Social Media

Not only can I keep track of my grad school and college friends, but I’m friends with my elementary school crush. (Well, after writing this I unfriended him. It all felt too weird; he’s married now, we haven’t talked since the fourth grade, so I guess it’s time to move on.) Social media is altogether ridiculous, and it’s turned me into a modern-day Narcissus. I think it’s probably turned you into one, too.

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Life, RelationshipsRachel MallisonComment
Long Distance Lives: How to Maintain Relationships When You're Not with the People You Love
Long Distance Lives: How to Maintain Relationships When You're Not with the People You Love

I already moved five times this year and have lived in three different countries. Every time, you start from zero; you meet new people and try to make friends. I have to admit, I feel at home pretty fast. This time it took me a day (thanks to my amazing hosts). However, while building new friendships, you also have to take care of your loved ones at home. That is the hard part.

So here is what I do to maintain relationships with my friends and family back home.

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Travel, Life, RelationshipsViviane SchmidtComment
Real World 2.0
Real World 2.0

A lot has changed over the past few months. I moved into an apartment, and I have a job where people continue to congratulate me on having a job. (Is it written on my face that I’m an English major, I don’t know…).

It wasn’t a huge, sweeping move. But it takes great courage, I think, to go anywhere new, to separate yourself from what you’ve once known and who you once were.

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Dreams, Life, CareerAlyssa VottoFeaturedComment
How to Find Modern Day Magic
How to Find Modern Day Magic

“I can’t be a wizard; I’m just, I’m just Harry!” she quoted, with a bemused smile as she walked into another room. 

This was Madeline’s response when I asked her to provide a definition of magic. Now, before you read into Madeline’s response too deeply, I had better assure you that she is confident, hopeful and quite capable of becoming a wizard herself. So my analysis of this quoted statement and the following connection have really nothing to do with the quoter and more to do with society at large. Just so you can fully understand the context. 

So now, on to Harry. Harry’s very modest insistence that he cannot be a wizard can be seen in the parallel (and less modest) way adults claim to have outgrown magic. 

Growing up can be perhaps less lovely than we’d imagined as children, if we imagined it at all.

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LifeLaurel DicusFeaturedComment
How to Travel on a Post-Grad Budget, Part 1
How to Travel on a Post-Grad Budget, Part 1

It is 180,000% possible to travel on a post-grad budget, and I will defend this statement in a manner that is borderline aggressive.

The world wasn’t meant to be admired from a stock desktop wallpaper; it was meant to be experienced. This is another statement that I will defend in a manner that is borderline aggressive.

But traveling isn’t always easy on entry-level wages. Here’s how to see the world without breaking the bank.

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TravelAlly WillisFeatured, ArchiveComment
We're All Doing Alright
We're All Doing Alright

In high school, I wanted to make my school’s cheerleading team. I cheered for my town’s pop warner teams but hadn’t cheered in years, but I went to tryouts my freshman year anyway.

I didn’t make it. I then went to tryouts for the winter season, and still, I didn’t make it.

My sophomore year I tried out in the fall again. Again, I didn’t make it. I went back in the winter and finally made the team. Fourth time’s the charm, right?

I practiced and became a member of the team but was only on the JV team. I honestly didn’t even care that I was on JV. I was just excited that I had finally made it.

Trying out for a team doesn’t seem like an incredibly courageous thing, and I never thought of it as that. To me, it didn’t seem like I had another option but to continue to try out because it was something that I wanted, and it never crossed my mind to give up.

I’m in a similar situation now. I’ve learned that waiting around for things to happen to you isn’t how you become successful.

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CareerJackie MundryComment
Sometimes, It Ain't Pretty
Sometimes, It Ain't Pretty

A few weeks ago I had a co-worker kindly mention, “You only have a month or so left ‘til you are unemployed right?” My initial reaction was an eye roll and, “Gee, thanks for the reminder; it must have slipped my mind…” but what he said resonated within me and slowly the uncomfortable twinge from deep inside me started to sound the sirens.

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Career, LifeAlyssa RichardsonComment
Isolation Is More Powerful Than Community
Isolation Is More Powerful Than Community

If you would have told me a year ago that for my first job I would get to travel all across the United States for an organization I care so deeply about, I wouldn’t believe you. I desperately wanted to travel for a living, and I’m actually doing it! 

I travel with one suitcase and one carry on and visit a new city about every week. My elevator speech actually includes the line, “My office is my suitcase.” As I write, I’m realizing that my job is the real deal and I absolutely love it.

I also want to acknowledge that it’s a lonely job.

I get to meet absolutely amazing, inspiring women every day, but I only have one week to get to know them, then I’m off to a new city. I am around people all the time, but I am hardly, if ever, around people who know me... people who know my habits, my past and my passions--the friends who know that I am not a morning person and never will be and the mentors who see my strengths and appreciate that I am a competitive person.  

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Career, Life, RelationshipsArielle SchraderFeaturedComment
How to Create Community After College
How to Create Community After College

When I was in college, preparing myself for a career in the music industry, I always assumed that whatever job I got would be my life. I never thought about what I would do with my time outside of work, other than spending it drinking beer with my friends and binge-watching crime shows. I was involved in extracurricular activities like the school newspaper during my time at MTSU, and even though I did enjoy it, the main incentive there was that I knew it would help make my resume sparkle. I didn’t expect that eventually I would crave having a project purely out of enjoyment with no ulterior motive. 

Fast forward to a year into my full-time job. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy my work as a concert marketer, because I do. But eventually I knew I had to challenge myself to get involved in something outside of my paid gig in an effort to meet new people and continue learning along the way. The problem was that I didn’t really know how to do that as an adult without using school as a resource. 

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Career, RelationshipsMeredith GalyonFeatured, ArchiveComment
What You Should Know About Waiting
What You Should Know About Waiting

Over coffee one weekend, my friend poured out her thoughts in the vein of frustration with her first full-time gig after college. Her angst was stemming from the general discontent of routine and the initial feeling — 3 weeks in —that her job was meaningless and seemingly dead-end.

As I listened, I felt the ping of familiarity with these sentiments — feeling discontent with the present and frustration of waiting for the future.

She asked me, “How long does it take for this to go away?”

I couldn’t give her a concrete answer. What do I tell her? That this will all go away soon? At the end of the month? Year?

And there lies the root of our frustration: there’s no timeline.

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Career, Life, Dreams, RelationshipsJulie BloomFeatured, ArchiveComment