Taylor: Spring 2018
Class of 2017, Taylor is in Montreal working in sales for an edtech startup.
Health: 7/10
I’m in very good physical shape, I enjoy the stretches I do every morning (thanks to my mentor Tom for getting me started on the Happy Body routine soon after graduation) and going swing dancing and wall climbing at least once a week. Now that the weather’s warm I want to get back into running, and bike/board to work every day to build my stamina and feel better about my body.
From a mental health perspective I’m doing good most days — I feel happy and I journal frequently, and I’m often present in my daily journey. Sometimes I’m a bit lonely in Montreal, when I miss being in the same place as my college friends, but it’s a transient feeling.
Spiritually I’m lacking — I don’t know what I believe and I’m not putting in effort to find out, taking the stance of “it’s not applicable in my life” right now.
Work: 8/10
My 8–6 is still relatively new to me, I’m only 6 months on the job — and it’s still full of learning opportunities. I want to gain more experience so that I can feel that sense of fulfillment that I sometimes lack from helping customers as well as systematically hit + exceed my sales quota.
Currently, I’m working on two projects for the CEO, first to map out sales process of the company, which I find absolutely riveting and want to do more of, and second to lead the outreach to colleges for a research project, which appeals to me deeply because it means meaningful one-on-one interactions with potential customers and it’s also the same project I brought into the company when I was hired, so I’m lucky to get to see this through.
On the side I want to mentor youth, provide value professionally to promising individuals working on their own projects (Thierry, Joy), and make the stumbles I’ve experienced worth something by turning them into advice (like this prototype project).
Play: 10/10
I regularly wall climb and swing dance, both of which are amazing fulfilling social activities in my life. I have my funky housemates, I go to art shows and music shows occasionally, and I feel like I always have the opportunity to do something fun whenever I want.
Love: 9/10
I’m content with dating myself while scoping out possibilities, which is a huge relief from the frantic feeling I had a year ago when I broke up with my boyfriend after graduation and feared I would never be able to find someone who could give me the same sense of love. All the people in my life give my joy — Laura, my close girlfriends and new friends in Montreal who involve me in their social circles and open my eyes to what the city has to offer, my roommates Bernardo and Daniella whom I love dearly and get to come home to everyday, my overseas/cross-border friends whom I support and support me. My family is a rock to me. I love feeling young and able to take on anything in a city alive with culture and people.
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)
