Hope: The beginning of 2007
The best way to recount the stories from this year is to start from the beginning. From here, I'll trace where life has taken me in the past 9 months.
I welcomed 2007 without any resolutions, which made me uncomfortable. My resolutions for 2005 and 2006 helped to give me some direction, but this year, I had a hard time thinking of any. When I think about it, I didn't really have any specific goals in mind other than determining what happiness meant to me and pursuing it.
And with that vague feeling, I began 2007 armed with a freshly minted degree and my youthful optimism. Time to change the world! Time to make great things happen! Time to live the dream of the liberal arts major! But I didn't even know where to start. While I do dream of doing something entrepreneurial and working with youth, I figured I'd give a regular day job a try and gain some "practical experience" in the corporate world.
50 resumes out. 4 interviews. 0 offers. I expected the job hunt to be frustrating-- I knew this from hearing the experiences of others who had graduated before me, but it nonetheless got to me and I began to feel some bitterness at a world that wouldn't hire me. There were a couple of jobs I really wanted and I have to admit I was pretty disappointed when I didn't get them. And then there were others in which the interviews were just short of a dog-and-pony show. But at the end of the day, it makes for a good story, right?
Eventually, it got to a point where I just needed to do something. Money was running low and so was my sanity. The bright hopes I began 2007 with had dimmed a bit already. I thought that I wouldn't have reached this point for a few more years. Sadly, most nights I thought to myself, "is this what 'real life' is like?"