Don't Expect, Just Do

I was speaking to a friend yesterday and he tends to always give me the same advice: keep writing because you’ll be doing what you love even if you aren’t getting paid for it. He also told me that just because I put in the time with my education and with years at these other internships to get the valuable work experience that I would need, that I can’t expect anything. And that’s exactly what I have been doing. I’ve been expecting that because I did all of the right things, took all of the right steps, that I would get that job in the end. Well, in a competitive field where everyone else has gone through the same motions, you can’t expect anything. So, my very wise friend said, don’t expect…do! Reminiscent of Nike’s “Just Do It,” I realized that he was right. I can keep sitting around complaining about the job market, the unfairness of unpaid internships, and in general just keep feeling sorry for myself, or I can keep doing everything in my power to outshine the others and get a step ahead.

And indeed if I claim to love writing so much, it should be something I continue to do for the love of it. If I’m not disciplining myself now to be writing on a daily basis, then how can I really expect to have the discipline and motivation to do it when that job finally does come along? So, I am going to re-dedicate myself to maintaining this blog. Since I have so much time on my hands, it really shouldn’t be all that difficult to write a post every day. And if I am diligently writing every day, then maybe I’ll be able to produce quality articles for freelance.

Ultimately though, it is in general about doing something you love with your life and doing something that you enjoy every single day. I am tired of spending my days feeling depressed, exhausted, and upset about everything. The fact of the matter is, laying in bed feeling sorry for myself isn’t doing anything to change that. So, the fact that I feel trapped is because I am; I’m trapped in my own prison of pity and disappointment…and we all know that pity parties aren’t fun and really don’t ever do anyone any good.

So, I choose to say “screw you cruel world, you can’t get the better of me, I’m way too stubborn to listen to you.” Maybe I only have enough money to just get by right now, if that, but that’s still more than a lot of people out there. So I’ll do those internships, I will rock them, and I will make everyone in the office know I am an asset that they simply cannot lose, and even if I don’t get the job at the end of it, I’ll keep working through the next internship and prove myself for the next one. At least that means I am getting myself out there and trying. And in an industry that connections matter more than anything else, every opportunity exposes me to more people and to more opportunities.

For now, I’m going to be content with the little bit of background work I’ve been fortunate enough to do. Really, who doesn’t want to get paid for walking, sitting, eating, and having enough down time to keep up the job search? It isn’t much, but it is definitely a blessing. Things could be a lot worse.