For the past few weeks I’ve been working on setting up the foundation for this little project of mine. With everything I’ve posted, I’ve hoped to paint a picture of what exactly got me to where I am and why I am choosing now to do this. But in an attempt to recap a little, I am going to outline it all for you now. I call it the foundation for this social experiment in change. Basically the things that got me to my current state of mind is what started my whole want to make things different and I plan to build off of that initial desire.
When I was in college, I had a good friend who always said that 28 was the age where she would get married and settle into that next phase of her life. If she was not there by that time, then that was the age when she would panic. Let’s call this the Scary Age Theory.
Well at 22, that sounded like a great plan to me so somewhere along the line I adopted that philosophy on life. Back then, 28 seemed like a million years away so I figured I had nothing to worry about. This past March I hit the scary age. I was now 28 years old with no boyfriend, no ring, and no prospects on the horizon. However, my lack of relationship status wasn’t the aspect of my life that I was most panicked by.
I wasn’t really content with my life as whole. As I’ve said before, I felt disconnected. There was no real passion or excitement behind the things I was doing and I felt more like I was just going through the motions rather than truly feeling alive. I still had several ghosts of relationships past in my present preventing me from moving on to the future. I am a Type A workaholic and I have issues saying no to people or putting myself first, which quite often leaves me feeling burnt out or stretched too thin. Work was really the only place I had mild success but it also gave me the opportunity to hide from all the other aspects of my life that I was unhappy with. And finally, since I was a kid I’ve had one major dream and that was to attend Penn State University. At 18 years old, I got that dream and now I have a piece of paper hanging on my wall as a constant reminder that I made my dream come true but no idea what my next dream should be.
For years, I had been waiting around for life to fall into place and I finally came to the conclusion that it wasn’t going to do that. The universe can only take you so far. Fate or karma or whatever it is that you believe in are only going to be able to give you so much before you have to take over control of your own destiny. It is easy for all of us to talk about doing things but then when it comes to actually following through, we lack motivation. I want to put my money where my mouth is, stop talking and start doing the things I say I'm going to do. People constantly say if you're not happy with your life then change it so I'm giving it a shot. I know there will be good days and bad days. There will be days when I will stumble or fall and I will have to find the strength to pick myself up and keep going but there will also be days when I will fly.
So today I’ve given you a little recap of what inspired to me do all this. I wanted to start here because like I said earlier, this is the foundation for me to build off. I am starting with a desire to evolve, change and grow, which will hopefully be a solid base in which I will build the rest of my life upon. Over the next few days I hope to enlighten you on other aspects of this journey. I will take you through the three phases of this process and give you a little more insight into what I hope the ultimate destination will be. Stay tuned!
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost (excerpt from The Road Not Taken)
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost (excerpt from The Road Not Taken)
Hey alison, long time no see or talk.
ReplyDeleteSo I saw your blog on facebook and just read it. Its pretty cool that you can be open and talk about all that. You gave me some inspiration to talk about my current situation.
So now how this all relates to me. I also turned that 28 mark this year, in August. I have been unhappy with my job for a few years now, but just reluctant to make that change. This job gives me security and a good paycheck, however I have no power working here. I dont feel any net worth here. We dont grow as a business and no body wants to grow. They never want to take any risks. I guess I just got tired at some point of the same daily routine.
You know whats even more toubling is that I have ownership at my job, but I dont consider myself an owner. Its a family business. All those details are very complicated, and I definately will not go into all those details here.
I love my family them very, but I just dont work well during disagreements, or debates. I just take thing too personally when its with my family. They say you must seperate business and family, however I find it difficult to do that. So the fact that I am an owner complicates my situation very much. You must consider what I am giving up by leaving ths family biz. Its a lot (financially). But I learned money does not bring you happiness.
So I made a change, and I am starting culinary school next month. Its a risk, its gonna hurt my savings, but I do think it will make me a much happier person. Life is too short to be stressed all the time. I love to cook and you should be doing something that you love.
Its weird, I spent thousands and thousands going to Penn State for a degree, accomplished that with a logistics degree to set me up perfectly in the family buusiness. Now im going to Culinary school ?!?!?! Some people look at me really funny when I tell them what I am doing and some people hug me and say "Just go for it!!" I guess the people that look at me funny know my situation better and know what I am giving up when I leave here. But they have no idea how my mind works and how unhappy I am some days. Most of the time I put a good front on during those bad days too.
Some people talk about that road not taken and never check it out. This is the worst choice people can make. Then some people take the risk and choose to go down that road. Some fail and some succeed, but you will never know the outcome if you dont check out that road!!!
John that is AMAZING!!! I'm so happy you are going for something that you really want :) We only get one shot at life and if we live it for anyone else we are short changing ourselves. I think you are making exactly the right decision and money will work itself out in the end. You can't put a price on true happiness. I think you will do great in Culinary school! You'll have to keep me posted on how it goes! And those people giving you funny looks just wish they had the courage to do the same thing with their own lives! Thank you so much for sharing what you're going through! It's nice to know I'm not alone in being unhappy with where I'm at and looking to make a change!
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