When I started this blog, I intended to write a post at least once a week but life has been crazy. My boyfriend and I moved into a new apartment (which I ADORE) and I have been unpacking twelve hours a day for a week and a half. Somewhere along the way, I lost my laptop charger due to natural causes, may she rest in peace… so, that is my excuse and I am sticking to it.
So here we are. I am in our new apartment and my bank account has less than $100 in it after paying for the first month’s rent. My gas tank is nearly empty. Needless to say, I am a little bit stressed and it’s taking a toll on my body. I lay in bed for hours trying every sleep aide technique I can think of, but to no avail. My mind is going through half a million thoughts per minute and it all boils down to: How am I going to pay rent next month?
I really don’t know who came up with this evil lie that your 20s are supposed to be a grand party. All it does is set people up for grand disappointments. I don’t think this is a coincidence. I remember one of my favorite professors talking about Karl Marx and I see now, firsthand, what he was talking about. The system NEEDS people to be desperate and hopeless. It’s not set up for us mere college graduates with Bachelor’s degrees to have fulfilling careers. We cannot have any power or the system wouldn’t work. We are nothing but a cog in “the machine”, as Dr. Caston at East Carolina University so lovingly drilled into our heads in Sociological Theory. We do as society tells us to do and go to college. Fine. Done. What next? Most of us graduate with crippling debt and dive into an ocean of job seekers who are just as “organized, detail-oriented and hardworking” as the rest of us. Again: Supply and demand comes into play. There are thousands of job seekers to accommodate the dozens of employers seeking applicants. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who is in power. Sure, you can “negotiate your salary” using all the tips you see on articles on LinkedIn or Monster, but guess what? There is someone more desperate than you who is qualified enough who will work for less. For example, someone who doesn’t know where next month’s rent is going to come from.
Sometimes, knowledge is power. Sometimes, it’s a handicap. I am expected to put a blindfold over my eyes and accept the first job that is oh-so-graciously offered to me by a blessing from above, no doubt. And I will do just that. It is, after all, the American dream. Right? My cynicism may be skewing that a little bit. The challenge is to find the ever so delicate balance between standing out and “letting your personality shine” on a resume versus looking like a crazy person who has no idea of what is appropriate in a professional setting. I tend to err on the side of caution, which may be hurting me more than I realize, but we shall see. And so the adventure begins. I’m about to dive in. I hope I come back out!
Life After Liberal Arts 