And so it begins…
What I wouldn’t give to be able to resurrect my original blog from it’s forgotten, cringe, and what some might call “cheugy” grave. Maybe it’s better left buried beneath the soil of early internet days. Hidden not as an effort to erase, but as a landmark to showcase how far that thirteen-year-old girl in Ohio has come. But like all good things, we’ve now come full circle. Here I sit, a rainy September day in Northwest Arkansas, typing away at a blog post with an unknown audience, trying to uncover the purpose of this post as I write.
While my departure from social media was not entirely planned, I’m so fortunate to be far, far away from the Instagram likes, the TikTok Shop, the retweets, and the rage bait woven between. Even the idea of setting up a LinkedIn page seems truly awful at this point. I think I got about 45% of the way done with set-up before thinking, “nah, rather not”. I know it’s “necessary” for recruitment, but at what cost? Wasn’t the point of this entire website to skirt around the popular career-based social networking platform?
What people don’t tell you about the job search is the glaring juxtaposition of a successful hunt. To potential employers or investors, this is your moment to be your best version of self. The luxury model of Kelsey, not the Great Value brand. You need to move through the job market with vigor, momentum, drive, enthusiasm… all while feeling dejected, heartbroken, embarrassed… what a terribly vulnerable place to be.
So as I wrap up this inaugural post as an official “Free Agent” of the job market, I can only feel comfort from the fact that so many people I look up to have sat in this exact seat before. Every mentor and influential person on my life has been through this journey. Sure, maybe they weren’t sitting in a doctor stool, hovering over a natural light tracing table, swallowed by an XL Kum & Go shirt, but they have felt the pain, the sadness, the frustration, and the vulnerability of being open for new work. And every single one of them have powered through, found their next step, and continued to positively impact the world, often with more resources and a bigger platform than they had before.
I’m ready to traverse this unknown plain, eager for the next stop on this journey of life.