I Also Have A Dream

Photo by: James

This week was a busy but very interesting week. The last week of August was here in a flash and a mini vacation for me was right in my peripheral view. Still, there were so many things coming down the pike; setting up a home office for my new business, getting new office supplies including catching a great sale at Best Buy on electronics. And of course, meetings and readings to do, as always.

When I think of the fall fast approaching I always think back to my 1st year in college, you know that certain smell in the air and those moments you smile about thinking of the people you used to chill with. I sometimes feel so far removed from that time and not so removed at other times. Now I'm well into my career as a mental health professional and I'm meeting young people who have only been a few months removed from the very experience I talk about. Except, these new graduates have challenges ahead of them. Their obstacles are not the obstacles I had ten years ago, theirs seem much more daunting.

When I first entered college my professor told me there would always be jobs for people in Human Services, but that doesn't seem true for mine or people in any kind of service anymore. The people that came up with me were almost always pushed to go to college and prepare for a career maybe even with the hope of advanced training down the line. What exactly do we tell our college students now? I read in the paper this week about the rising costs of debt for recent grads. They should've added the costs of the not-so-recent grads too. Heck, I struggle now with my own pricey loan repayments. It's ridiculous!

While I was on the radio last week I was asked what would I tell a younger person struggling with their dreams about my journey. The one thing I didn't say that I should've said was to create your own destiny. If this economy has taught me, a woman with a job and a career anything, is to create my own destiny. Don't plan on your job to take care of you like an overindulgent parent. Long gone are the days when a company offers you a job and you stay there for 30 years, working your way up the ladder until retirement. Most people don't do that anymore and most companies these days can't guarantee that type of stability for their employees. So, do what I do and so many others do--work until you get to a place that you can create the type of career you want for yourself. Stay hungry and learn as much as you can about what you want to do. Have a Plan B and a Plan C. Get educated even if it's not just through traditional schooling but through complementary education. Get a professional mentor, take online classes in Creative Writing or Public Speaking. Join a Meetup Group where you can network with other like-minded people and make a way out of no way. There is nothing you can't dream and not become. I know. I am a manifestation of just that!