I know everyone and their mother has started a blog, but here I am, joining the party... Reading other people's blogs and navigating through their journeys with them has brought me so much joy that I figured, why the heck shouldn't I do it? So here I sit, watching my third consecutive episode of SVU, preparing to shove my opinions and ADD-induced ramblings on each of you innocent bystanders. You've been warned.
So, growing up.
It's such an odd concept because it's something we all want to do and dream about ("When I grow up I want to _________"), but the closer we get to it, the more terrifying it seems. As I'm applying to graduate school and about to graduate, I've slowly come to realize that, technically, I'm pretty much a grown up.
What.
I'm 22 years old and about 8 weeks away from being shoved into the real world whether I like it or not. Why is it so hard for me to grasp that I'm ready for this? I alternate daily from excitement over the vast possibilities I have in my future to terror about leaving my comfortable space here at Samford.
I think, honestly, the best thing I've done is talk to people in the same position as me. Reading articles about succeeding and hearing "Don't worry, it will all fall into place!" does nothing for me. Sometimes, it's just good to panic with someone who's in the same position as you are. It's therapeutic and a huge relief.
One of the best books my mom has given me is 101 Secrets For Your Twenties by Paul Angone. My absolute favorite Secret is #25: "Your 20s will produce more failure than you'll choose to remember. The key is, when you fail don't begin calling yourself a failure." I love this. Failure isn't fun; in fact, it can feel humiliating and degrading. But EVERYONE fails. In fact, one of the recurring themes in all of my business classes was that virtually all uber-successful people failed repeatedly before they found what worked.
Regardless, I find myself terrified of failure. But, as I told my best friend over Skype a couple of weeks ago, it's not the failure itself that's so horrible. It's having to tell people that you've failed.
It's pride.
Ugh.
How we handle failure is one of the biggest indicators of maturity (and, therefore, truly growing up). So here I find myself asking the question, "How will I choose to handle the inevitable failures and rejections that I'll encounter in the near and distant future?"
Hopefully with humility and grace.
"...For this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down"
-Mary Pickford
