Bootstraps

Having an active imagination does not help during a job hunt. I'm not actually job hunting, I'm vocation/career/purpose hunting, but the first step of both boils down to the same thing. The problem with an active imagination is that as soon as I see a promising opportunity, I imagine myself working it, imagine myself living in that community, commuting (if necessary), imagine what my living space would look like... in short, I imagine everything so far in advance that I feel like I've actually been there, done that, so what's the point? There's a fine line, I guess, between realistic expectations and a fore-lived experience.

One thing frustrates me, as I find myself increasingly mired: It seems the world has so much support to offer young high school and college students when it comes to career advice, but once you graduate - bam! You're on your own. If you don't get it figured out in a hurry, your options are slim. Ah, it kind of makes me miss those days of college coddling - (how I hated them then!)

Pity they never taught Pulling Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps in college.

3 comments:

Monster Librarian said...

Hear hear!

Good news, I have an interview outside of Boston next weekend!!

Anonymous said...

From that comment, while it seems that too much choice is hamstringing you, I think that controlling fear is also a likely factor behind what appears to be a "vocation hunting" problem. Working through what may eventuate is a sound idea to evaluate risks and returns, but if progress is to be made then a "step off the diving board" moment needs to occur.

From the sounds of things you have a pretty solid base - why not do some experimenting as you can always head back to that base if experiments don't work out?

Kt said...

Yes, anonymous, fear is always a factor with any change in life, and so can be both a powerful motivator (Fear of Staying Put) and an obstacle (Fear of the Unknown.)

Unfortunately I think I've done more experimenting than most of my peers, which may explain why I'm a little burnt out with it. Everyone reaches different stumbling blocks in their life, and everyone is left to their own devices, but some of us are slower at figuring things out than others. I feel like a horse at the hurdle pacing up and down going, "Duh...a-duh..."

Right. Life is like a steeplechase.