Mar 17, 2014

When Things Don't Go As Planned, Pt. 1

When I started this blog a few months ago, I really wanted to be open about my life with the hopes that what I go through will resonate with one or two people. It's always reassuring to find others who have had similar struggles as you because it lets you know that you aren't alone. The thing is, I haven't found a blog post like this in a looooong time and I want there to be one out there.

Things are about to get a little personal. If you're struggling to find your way in life or in a funk for seemingly no reason, I've been there. I've been there for the past few months and I want you to know that it gets better; you just have to be patient.

{100% corny but 100% true, there's a plan for you}

Four years ago, I was living the life. I was studying fashion merchandising in NYC, had already spent a year in Italy, and travelled to London for a summer internship. My future was in the fast-paced world of the fashion industry and I couldn't have been happier. But it wasn't long before my life started feeling quite unfulfilled. I began questioning my choice of major and decided it wasn't for me anymore. I transferred to Texas A&M to be closer to home, and began to pursue a degree in urban horticulture. I had always loved food and cooking, and wanted to learn how I could help transform urban environments into places where others could grow fresh, local food.

However when I got to A&M, I started caring a lot less about my classes, internship opportunities, and securing a job post-graduation and a lot more about extracurriculars (both in terms of academics and hanging out with my friends).  Mixed in to all of that was having a full course load, a nearly full-time job, rediscovering the Catholic church and being called to delve deeper into my faith, and finding my soulmate (through one of those extracurricular clubs, might I add...so it ended up being a great thing!). My life was full of changes and emotions that were just overwhelming. My future was shaping out to be one that didn't match what I had been planning this whole time.

Fast forward to December 2012, when my husband and I got engaged. He was set to graduate that May and I was planning on graduating in August (changing majors 3/4 of the way through college set me back a nice year and a half). We set our wedding date for October and started talking about moving to Austin or another city once we get married. Austin is like a little mecca of urban gardens and community programs that just seemed like a perfect fit for me and my career goals. And we loved it there! But then God threw us a curveball when my husband was offered a full-time position in town and since we had a wedding to pay for and he loved it there, it was just silly not to take it. We would stay in College Station for a year or so and then move to our beloved Austin or elsewhere.

I continued with my classes and graduated as planned in August. As my graduation date was approaching, however, I realized I had absolutely no idea what kind of job I could pursue in town. I knew I did not want to work for a landscape company and that was pretty much the only horticultural type job in the area. I had thought about becoming a teacher, but I wasn't sure if that was something I could really do. Feeling rushed to help contribute financially to our wedding and future together, I took a job at a daycare working with the babies. If you had asked me 5 years ago if I saw myself graduating from college and starting an hourly job at a daycare...I would have laughed in your face.

Come back tomorrow for Part 2 where I get down to the knitty gritty of the past 6 months, and I offer up my tried and true tips for doing the whole job searching/finding yourself thang! 

1 comment:

  1. Glad to see you in my Bloglovin' feed! I've missed you! Looking forward to part 2. Until then, happy thoughts!

    ReplyDelete