I wrote this post over a month ago, but never posted it. Until now that is.
To preface:
Usually when I see things about the economy in the news, I see numbers, arrows pointing up or down, percentages. It somehow removes the humaness from it all. Things could always be worse, I guess. But to be frank, this has been one big 'ol sh*tty battle that I, and many of my friends, struggle with on the daily:
How are we going to make that bread and butter when few are hiring and the jobs that we do apply to, a zillion other (just as qualified) individuals apply to right along with us. The other big question -- how to earn a living while still doing the things we love.
Well. We gotta do what we gotta do to make that happen, no matter how many detours and setbacks we have, I figure. All while not getting involved in any illegal business, of course. Trust me on that one. Oh and no stripping.
Now that that's out of the way:
Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, we are the ultimate hustlers. Who is we, you may ask? We is... us.
I'm talking about we, my generation (and not), college grad (or not). We are the amazing individuals struggling to survive in this economy in shall I say very creative ways.
I wanted to share my place in this economic crisis:
I graduated from college in 2008. You can say the year 2008 was the beginning of the end for a lot of people. I was lucky enough to find employment for two years at an administrative position, but then things changed drastically for me in 2010. I was laid-off and found myself back on those dreadful job boards, sending out dozens and dozens of resumes and applications a week to no avail. I want to jump out of the closet, so to speak, and share a piece of my story.
But let's back up a bit. I was feeling really bad about the whole thing. I thought I had done everything I was supposed to do while I was in college. With prestigious internships every summer both here and abroad, I thought I was really racking up invaluable experience that would be sure to land me my "dream job", whatever that was, upon graduation. But as the climate worsened, the little self-loathing pessimistic Debbie Downer voice inside of me got louder. Everything sucks and nobody cares, plus you don't know what you want to do and you're broke and no one wants to hire you because your black AND a woman and you don't have enough experience minus why would you ever think of a career change to museums/ graphic design, really, I mean, really. Don't worry I squared away all these issues with my therapist.
So here I am on the road unknown, still trying to find my way. I don't even know what's going to happen next week, next month, or next year. I'm as perplexed as the next kid. But you know what? That's okay. I never thought I'd be in this position at 25 because, you know in my 10 year old mind set, I'm supposed to have it all by now: living between my two apartments in Paris and New York, vacationing with the kids and husband at our vacation villa in Morocco, being at the top of my game, oh and a Grammy award winning singer. It's funny how 25 seemed so old back then.
But the take away message, boys and girl, is the message of perseverance. The fact that we are persevering to kiss our dream through the worst of times is pretty amazing. It may be by the skin of our teeth, but we're surviving. Between then and now, I've held down what seems like a dozen random jobs and internships as gallery assistant, museum educator, volunteer, PR Assistant/messenger, editorial intern, clerical worker, sales assistant, administrative assistant, translator, tour guide... yep, that's it for now. And what did I study? Oh yeah, Journalism and Political Science.
In short, we are creative jacks and jills of all trades because we had to be. We are well-rounded, team players; we are self-starters who take action. And most importantly, we know how to find quick solutions to some very difficult problems.
And, we know how to make a dollar out of 15 cents. Take that!
Even though there are no cookie cutter answers in life, we find our wisdom by living and experiencing. The trick to everything is to keep breathing.
In other words, we are here, and we are amazing! And the day will come when we will have our full out make out session with our dream.
Stay positive and heads up guys + me.
With love,
Sophia