I've finished more books in the last four years I did in my entire college career.
Required reading in college was a real struggle, but one that I actually managed to get through. The admittedly small handful of books I've finished since college have had a much greater impact on my life than the dozens I read in school.
Two of those inspiring works were written by Paul Angone, an author with a great understanding of the challenges that life in your twenties brings for many of us. I highly suggest you buy his books and follow him on Twitter, but for now check out these praiseworthy quotes from the final chapter of All Groan Up: Searching for Self, Faith and a Freaking Job!", with some follow up thoughts from me below each.
"I was strategically settling for a season to work on a new route toward the dream I felt I was not supposed to let go of."
Waiting for the perfect job kept me in an imperfect one for way too long. On the worst days, it was tempting to fantasize about my next stop: a job that requires all of my talents with management that accepts (and gives me credit for) all of my ideas.
All this plus no night or weekend hours work with a reverse commute from an immaculate downtown condo.
I let my distaste for a job that I couldn't stand allow me to lust for one that didn't exist. Accepting that there is no perfect job will not only make a truly toxic work environment more bearable, it'll also open your mind to a greater number of career moves that'll get you out of that hell hole a lot quicker.
"I stopped waiting for a publisher's permission to tell my story and just began sharing it."
One of my biggest insecurities is feeling that I need a huge audience for anything I create to really matter, as if it's only legit if the masses bear witness. By waiting for a stamp of approval, whether it's from an employer, guy/girl or whomever, we make ourselves slaves to whatever it is that can open the door to what we're fighting for. Do what ever it is that you do, even if it's on a small scale for now.
"All the dark and dismal places of defeat that I'd frequently visited were helping show people a way out of theirs."
To phraphrase Andre 3000, we all want to go to heaven but nobody wants to die. Every inspiring story that motivates us all to push through hard times needed someone to, well, actually suffer first. There's great value in not being born into limitless opportunities, resources and fortune; those who are don't always fare well. See.
"...at 5:00 a.m., on lunch breaks, late into the night, I was still writing. It had become something I could not NOT do."
My last job required a huge time commitment outside of normal working hours. This forced me to really place a premium on time I spent away from work- every hour had to have a purpose, even if it was for rest.
Recovering spare time is like collecting loose change. Bit by bit it doesn't seem like much, but eventually you realize that you've saved enough to get something worthwhile. An easy way to start: don't spend your full lunch hour eating a sandwich. Go hustle (a tip I first borrowed from Jon Acuff).
"I've learned that most of the time we don't choose between chasing our dream and paying the bills. We do both at the same time."
In my senior year at Georgia College, I developed a fear of what I thought was a terrible fate- working a job I didn't love so I could pay bills. Back then, I couldn't imagine that any decent person would settle for a job that did not offer great personal fulfillment and also be impressive enough to get lots of likes on Linkedin. Later that year, I ate chicken wings from a takeout box I thrown in the trash and quickly decided that wasn't about that starving artist life. So I graduated and took a job that didn't do much besides pay for rent and groceries (which is of course is A LOT) while also finding opportunities outside of work to pursue my passions. In other words, I wore suits and wrote blogs... at the same damn time.
"...the detours we'll come across along the way aren't distractions from our dreams... they lead straight to the heart of them."
Years (months? Please, God?) from now, I'll tell you all of those up and down life experiences I had post-graduation were used to write that awesome TV show/book/movie that everyone's talking about. I'll sit on the couch with Jimmy Fallon and laugh about the manipulative, insecure work people, small town slum lords and bad decisions I made all on my own that shaped the wacky characters America's fallen in love with. My success, I'll tell the world, is owed to all the stuff I hated in the moment but value in the present. The camera will lock onto my face close enough for you to see that I truly mean every word of it. You'll know I do because you read me say as much on a free blog site well before my stupid 20s made any sense.
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