What I want to do after graduating….
I think I have heard this question a million times in the last few months. Heck, my dad asks me three times a week at least. I think he’s worried because I haven’t even begun job searching yet.
Well, I had a really enjoyable weekend (very purposefully, gearing up for my very busy, stressful last week of school) and I reflected a lot on what I really wanted to do after school….at least for the short term! And I don’t keep a journal, so I thought this was a nice place to list my “post graduate goals”. And here they are:
- get some sleep!
- improve my gym workout
- hula hoop on my back porch, in the sunshine, with good music on
- take my nieces to the park
- have more documentary dates with my best friend
- start volunteering with RPEC
- clean out my closet
- keep running workshops at my internship (soon to be PAID internship, woo-hoo!)
- email those neat women I met through UMFS and look into travel opportunities and potential career leads
- play my guitar more
- buy a bunch of cool experiential learning tools that I’ve wanted for a while
- find an apartment or house!
- get a decent haircut
- start planning my next Habitat volunteer trip
- volunteer at the local Habitat (my old place of employment- miss those guys!)
- continue adding to my “kit” that I created to use during workshops
- blog more
- learn to play hand drums
- read about a million good books that are waiting patiently while I finish up coursework
- look into getting a teacher’s certification
- look into mediation training
- learn how to garden
- cook more for myself
- get out to the ropes course more
- see my friends at more than just the “big” events
- go to Lewis Ginter
- put all of the pictures on my floor into albums!
- learn another language
- take piano lessons (again, but this time with more time to practice!)
I could go on and on. When I left my volunteering event Saturday afternoon, I felt so great to be outside on a beautiful day, singing along to a great new CD, heading to a cookout at a friend’s house. I haven’t had real downtime since 1997. Two, three jobs, internships, multiple church obligations, other volunteer roles, traveling…. I love my life, but man, it’s tiring. I am looking forward to having more time for the little things that get pushed aside, like my hobbies, and the big things that get pushed aside (like my friends!).
But it’s not that I don’t want to work. I do want to find a career, and one that I am passionate about. The dilemma perhaps is that I am passionate about a lot of things! And as soon as I find that career, I will be overbooked again, and there goes the hula-hoop, guitar playing time. And right now, I need some of that time!
Really, what I want to do after graduating is find some balance. Then I’ll start job hunting.
