Author: Liana

In a world that constantly demands our attention, it’s easy to invest all of our time and energy in things that give us superficial fulfillment. It’s through this economy of attention that we’re made to carry out choices that are detrimental to our health, both physically and/or mentally, and wear down our ability to make logical decisions. As a result, it’s important to stop lingering on things that are out of our control and focus on what we can control: our relationship with ourselves. We are the best investment that we can ever make throughout our entire life, and when you take care of yourself, you take care of everyone else around you by proxy. So just remember. You are worthy. You are valid. And, you certainly are loved.

I admire the confidence in our younger selves to boldly declare a fantastical career path and follow through with it until one day it all sinks in and your vision for the future turns into uncertainty. What causes this shift in the way we imagine our future self? As we grow older, we have the opportunity to encounter new experiences and perspectives that shape how we navigate the world, which ultimately changes our values in life (even if it doesn’t seem clear to us in the moment) and how we see ourselves pursuing them through a career. Right now, I’d imagine many of us are in that uncertain state, whether that be in high school as someone thinking about college majors or in a late-stage career as someone having a mid-life crisis. We’re thinking about where the past has led us, a time where it seemed like we had everything put together, and how the future now looks so scary and out of our control in comparison with all these external expectations to have all the answers. But, it’s not. You’re the dreamer of your own life, and whatever you decide to do in the future will be absolutely fantastic.

Whether or not you’re currently on the job or internship search, these questions will most likely linger within your mind in an uncomfortable way, and most likely you’ll also have answers to these questions, carefully crafted from the experiences you’ve had throughout your life. As any professional will say, come prepared to an interview and you’re sure to present your best self to an interviewer. Perhaps you’ll even  land an offer if you’re lucky. But, these questions barely scratch the surface of who we are as an individual—a living breathing human being. It’s hard to condense your entire life into a 3 minute pitch without removing the aspects of yourself that make you truly unique. After all, there is beauty and power in all facets of your being and to present one aspect over another creates a different persona of yourself for others to imagine and interact with. All of this isn’t to say that we’re all hiding our true selves and being deceptive when we do that because these interviewers are often strangers who haven’t yet earned access into our authentic self. But, this negotiation and presentation of our identity in semi-public spaces is worth considering, even if it’s for something as simple as a check-list interview.

It’s acceptance season! The high school seniors are hearing back from colleges with offers of admissions, my LinkedIn feed is filled with proud announcement posts about job offers and internship opportunities, and all around there’s an excitement to follow a new path and find a place of belonging. Amidst all of the hardship and frayed patience that placed people under stress, these words of acceptance come as a relief to our worries with the promise that everything will be spectacular moving forward. However, not all people are as fortunate to receive such offers, and not all will be well after an offer is received. It’s easy to get excited about these new prospects for yourself or for others, but like always in life, there will be another hurdle to jump over after this one. So, let’s celebrate these acceptances like they’re life-changing news and then take them with a grain of salt the following day. It’ll be the new normal until the next acceptance season after all.

It’s always a joy to walk around a building and look at all the little drawings and posters scattered around. Often times, the little notes that I find around campus are positive acts of kindness that remind me to take a step back and take a breath once in a while, although the hashtag causes me to take a double take in a different way. Either way, there’s something special about the anonymity of the sender, knowing that they took the time to leave the note for everyone else to see. And, the fact that the message resonates deep within you when you stop and take a look indicates a deeper understanding about a shared human condition. While this post may not be anonymous, I hope you all take care regardless, and I’m sending good energy your way!