Courtney: Spring 2018
Class of 2017, Courtney stayed in Durham after graduation to work on her own startup
Health: 6/10
I’m doing better than I was before having a new full time employee, although I’ve put pressure on myself to train him. The ability to delegate small tasks has already added balance to my life, like running after work and not working so late in the evening. There’s always this constant pressure to make others proud. My parents tell me “you don’t have to please anyone, you can stop at anytime” but when I have people who have been supporting me, now with an investor and an employee, I’m in this now.
I want to keep everyone happy and every time a customer unsubscribes I feel powerless to our growth. That’s been taking a huge toll on me for the past couple months. Plus the the lack of local produce available in winter means I don’t have control over my supply.
More recently, I felt like there’s only so many things I can do — I need to focus on operations, new website, new employee, those are big picture things that we need to grow. My dad recently told me “Hunt the lion, not the rabbit” and I’m learning that.
On the spiritual side, I’m very happy being a reformed Jew, and I have no interest being more religious or less religious at this point in my life. It’s nice to know I have a higher being to turn to in the dark times. Recently there’s been some bad things that have happened in my social circle, and I sympathize with them and I know I’m very fortunate, from my family and the greater cosmic.
Work: 6/10
I’m more happy than satisfied with the work I’m doing — which is separate from the mission of the startup, which I care greatly about. Right now I’m spending a lot of time with inefficiencies in operations, like 5 hour pickups, and that is frustrating when I’m trying to focus more on growth. Sometimes I think, “yes, I did my work but what did I actually accomplish.”
I like that we’re making progress with the website and that I hired someone. Right now I’m living in the day to day operations and there’s no time to feel a real, tangible outcome from our action.
Play: 7/10
I make time every night to watch some TV- right now I’m watching Empire before I go to bed. I try to cook often, read through cooking magazines, and I just really enjoy anything related to food. I’m not exercising as much as I want to because of my work schedule, and I would like to do more yoga and sleep in on the weekends, but I still make time for self care.
Love: 9/10
I love myself, and I’m proud of the person I’ve become— loyal, funny, and more comfortable in my own skin. Sometimes I bully “Courtney the entrepreneur”, who is a big part of “Courtney the person”, but my support network always reminds me of why I’m still doing this. I have the greatest friends, and I call my mom whenever I want to talk. My best friend and I started Facetiming recently and it’s really nice because it feels like we’re in the same room.
I still have lots of happy moments. A lot of my friends are moving out of Durham but the ones who are still here I make time for. On the weekends I’d like to spend more time on self care, running errands, sleeping, cooking, so that I can begin a new week well rested.
Being out in nature on a spring day, watching trash TV with a friend while eating a popsicle, and focusing on familiar, nostalgic sensations make me so happy.
Let me contextualize this
This is one candid snapshot from a chronicle of a few people’s post-graduate journeys. Some of us graduated Class of 2017. Others, a few years out. Each of us are on an unmapped journey to somewhere, optimistic that the dots will somehow connect in the future.
My hope to you is that when you follow along with our stories you will find comfort in the intentional randomness of life, and find courage in your own seemingly “monumentous” decisions.
The format will be simple — every four months, I will ask each post-grad to gauge 4 areas of their life (as inspired by the highly recommended book Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans):
- Health (physical, mental, spiritual)
- Work (9–5, side projects)
- Play (things you do purely for fun)
- Love (from you and to you)
