Why “As Long As You’re Doing Something” Is Better Than Doing Nothing: Reflection Into Summer 2014

Summer 2014. I like to think of it as the summer I learned more than it appeared. The previous summer I had spent interning at a student magazine in London called, Verge UK. I spent all year thinking I was going to top that the following summer — land a huge name on my resume. I’ve spent all of my college summers working at an internship up until this said Summer 2014. All of a sudden the days are getting longer, and I realized I hadn’t landed that big name internship. Let’s just say I was a lot more nervous about it than I let on. I could have easily stayed in my college town and interned to most likely wherever my heart desired, but I didn’t feel any of these places would offer more than what I was already required to do during the school year with volunteering and the amazing hands on curriculum my classes offered. The obvious statement in my head is, “I can’t sit and do nothing.”

Of course, my decision to embark on the fortunate trip I went on spanning 3 short months may have been swayed a large part by feelings of the heart. However, I’ll keep those feelings private and stick to the main point. When looking back I was terrified I wasn’t going to have “experience” and despite my excitement and eagerness to be the companion of my friend, I most likely acted way more chill about my overall feelings than my head was thinking.

I’m writing this post now, because of the most recent development in my life taking me to a new country for an entire year after receiving my degree, with absolutely no connections in my field there. Reading that last sentence can make any graduate who thinks you have to have a job secured 5 months before you receive your degree very scared. Even scarier is what if you’re stuck with a job that doesn’t reflect what you want to do in the future and THEN what goes on your resume. For a second I am very scared at reading this, but after that second I think back to the summer when this same feeling was happening on a much smaller scale.

Before reminiscing in this post, I want to make it clear where I’m getting at. Getting up and going anywhere away from your home is a big feat. That braveness is a very marketable trait in any industry — whether that is getting up and going somewhere for the company you work for or taking on a project totally out of your realm. Sometimes greater experience is found working in a coffee shop while freelancing and building your skills in a new place and working to make the connections to show your work to the right people than sitting in a boring cubicle changing the dates on pre-made templates somewhere that “looks” like you’re getting experience. I hope one day educational institutions work to instill this idea better than they do now — you’re not failing if you don’t have your dream job secured 5 months before graduating. We must learn that as long as we’re learning, growing our skills and experiencing (and maybe I’ll include surviving reasonably) then we’re not on the wrong track. Whatever you do, don’t do nothing.
Onto the sum-up of the story now…

I started off on the ‘Blues Trail’, seats folded down and packed to the brim in a 2004 Jeep Rubicon. This particular way down South included some relevant stops to Blues History. One of these stops was Memphis, Tennessee — Where the great Elvis Presley recorded numerous records in Sun Studios. The ride from here to Mississippi now included being packed to the brim with the windows down and The King belting out some soul. On the way, we might’ve had the urge to cross the Arkansas state border only to leave as fast as we could back on route. After wiping rib sauce off my face at dinner, sunburning one leg and arm, seeing confederate cemeteries, feeling the humidity, our music transitioned into sounds of Old N’Orleans. On a side note, the proper music can both educate and set the perfect mood on a road trip (Don’t leave home without a playlist).

New Orleans was a little different. All of the South was a little different, but here, the culture was something out of a 1920s fiction book. And the coffee was memorable. If you can find a city where the statement “I’d suggest a coffee” can be spoken in almost any place you go (whether you’ve been there or not), then you’re in my kind of city. Or really most peoples kind of city. The gothic architecture and gas lamps as lighting go well with that coffee. While you’re stopping everyone else for one night, I’d suggest New Orleans as at least a 3 nighter, then onward. And onward in my case required the lackluster brown gulf coast and BBQ pork sandwiches, past Tallahassee, across to the Atlantic coast and down to the final destination of West Palm Beach. Which lacked everything in the previous two paragraphs. But, adjusting wasn’t hard.

West Palm Beach became a home. It was here grilling dinner outside was the only way we were cooking at home, reading through a book was the only way to pass the time when a monsoon came through, going to the beach when it was rainy or cloudy for a few seconds wasn’t a big deal, shopping around for dogs because the apartment you were staying in really was starting to feel like home might’ve happened at least once (then you realized there was no room for you AND the dog in the Jeep that was packed to the brim), speaking of that Jeep opting to not put on the top because you were just going out for a few moments might’ve resulted in returning home soaked from the brief, humid rain storms. All these things happened, but I was also learning. Learning to scuba dive, learning about all the authors of the books being read, learning to navigate, learning to interact with strangers, learning to budget money, and so much more. And at the end of it all, I have some great stories and some great suggestions for the next person I meet. I have gathered all these inspirations for my work that I can recall whenever I need. I grew doing this, and it reflects in my professional life.

And to top it all off, not a moment was wasted with someone I love. I got to grow with them as well, and know what it feels like to wake up and know whatever happens during the day is just a bonus to waking up beside someone who makes you better. Love is important in all aspects of ones life — Love of your job, love of a project you’re working on, love of people. Some experiences can put you in better places than you’d ever initially think, and it’ll always show as long as you keep growing and experiencing. Whatever you do, don’t do nothing.