Happy Monday everyone!
*This is the second time I am writing this because the draft was deleted the first time :(*
In case you hadn't noticed, I took a break from posting this weekend. I don't want to exhaust my writing capabilities too soon in this new blog. Nor do I want to exhaust your interest in this blog ;)
I spent my weekend mostly lounging in the sun, and reading a really lovely series that my sister put me onto called Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness. I would highly recommend it if you're into a bit of fantasy. Lately my family and I have been really prepping for the summer months now that this warm weather has been sticking around for a bit longer. We repainted all the decks, replanted the gardens, brought out the summer furniture from hiding, and now we're in the process of opening the pool up. It has been a really good way of staying busy. Today my siblings and I were ankle deep in grimy, year old pool water trying to remove all the leaves and scrub the liner. But dammit, we want to swim this summer, so it had to be done!
All this warm weather has really started to make me think. Every year that the cool days start to become warm, I am reminded of the same question to myself: why do I live in NY? I love NY in the summer. It's a great temperature, the hiking trails are beautiful, the food here is fantastic, there are tons of festivals and things to do, and overall everything is great. But every other season outside of summer and maybe early fall are just hellish for me. I don't do any winter sports, so all I have are like 5 hours of daylight and tea to get me through 3/4 of the year. And every year I am reminded of this and I wonder why I haven't moved yet.
So now, with the start of my real adult life quickly approaching, I have been thinking a lot about what I might want to do, and where I might want to be.
The first thought I run into is the question of career. When you go to architecture school, it is assumed you will graduate, become licensed, and work in a firm until you retire and blahblahblah. To me that sounds boring as hell. I have interned at a firm for the past 4 summers now. Don't get me wrong, I loved working there, but in this already short period of time, the thought of spending anymore time in an office sounds awfully sad. I have the bug to travel, see new things, and meet new people, and 9 to 5 office life doesn't seem like it would fit well with those wishes.
So then I start thinking about what I might want to do instead... I do love design. Specifically I love small scale design. I would love to still have that client-to-designer, person-to-person relationship with someone while designing their tree house or tiny home, or even becoming a freelance public artist! How can I do that while living out my travel dreams? Here's my thinking...
As a student, I already spend most of my time doing work on my laptop. Sure I meet with professors (similar to the client in this case), but especially now with online learning, I am realizing that you can still have informative meetings through webcam. So that takes away the necessity of working in an office, right? And with no location barrier, the world becomes your office!
Now we're at the point in my psyche where I begin to ask how? How do I create this type of job for myself? Unlike an office job, I can not begin in an entry level position and learn from someone who has already gone through all of it. This part is quite scary for me to think about. I have been researching vanlife, online marketing, and travel blogging to try to find the commonality for the type of life I'm after. Luckily, there are plenty of people out there with the same line of questions and answers and they are all happy to share their findings with others :)
The realization that the life I want for myself can only be accomplished by all of my own work is incredibly daunting. But it's also incredibly invigorating. This will be the first time in my life that I get to really make a decision, a big decision, for myself. That fills me with a feeling of power and excitement and pride. I'm ready to see where I can take myself! The best part of this is this... As long as I have myself (which is always <3), then I always have the ability to get up and try out something new.
This goes for anything...
Do not be afraid to fail. Do not be afraid to love. Do not be afraid to try something new. The worst thing that could happen is it doesn't work out as planned. But you still have yourself, and that is seriously the only thing is this whole wide universe that you truly need to get past any obstacle. If you're not dead, then you have the ability to live!! So do it. Go live your dream baby.