...and stick with it. That's what my dad always told me.
I graduated a little over 7 months ago. I'm in a job that's not bad...but it's slow, and quite honestly, I'm bored alot of the times. Desktop support. Sure, I'm good at it, when there is stuff to do, but when there's not - I feel like I have to search too hard to find something to keep myself busy. I hate being slow. I hate being bored. I hate not having enough work to do.
I've talked with some of my friends about this, and Jonny and I discussed it over the weekend. When I look back on my life, the different periods of time and look at the one thing I was most occupied in...I see a pattern. When I was in high school, I was super involved in band. I wasn't the best player, but I was pretty good. Band, unfortunately, was not something I was able to stick with though, due to the next course in my life....the navy.
Those of you who know me, know this...I SUCKED at the navy. Jesus H Christ, I hated it. I hated the politics, I hated the games. I hated the brown-nosing, I hated being away from home. I hated the two faced people who were your friend to your face and talked crap behind your back. I hated it with a passion. I loved going overseas, seeing places I otherwise probably would have never had the opportunity to...but I hated the people who I worked with. To this day, I still only talk to about 4 people that I was close to in the service. The rest of the folks can kiss my you-know-where.
Why am I telling you all this? Because being so bad at something as I was in the navy put me in such a depression that when i finally finished my contract and was FREE and able to get the hell out of dodge and go home - it *inspired* me to find something I could be good at. I didnt know what that thing was going to be right away, but I just knew I had to find something I could excel in.
During the Fall of 2003, my first semester in college..I was trying to get reacquainted to 'civilian life'. I had a job making barely more than minimum wage...simply because it was flexible with my school schedule. I got up. I went to class, went to work, went home, did homework, went to bed, got up and repeated the process. It sucked. I had little to no social life, my friends from high school were married, or had moved on, had jobs, etc etc. Me...I was 4 years behind everyone else. That thing called the navy had put a kink in the road of life. At least, that's how it felt at the time (I eventually got over that feeling when I realized they were paying for my education).
January 2004, first day of classes, I walk onto campus and I see these posters everywhere. "Alpha Xi Delta has a place for you." they said. Hmm, what's that all about? See there was already one sorority on campus, who I had met during fall semester....but I had convinced myself that one, I was too damn old for a sorority, and two....I wasn't the sorority type. I didnt want to conform to rules and regulations, because for goodness sakes, I had just gotten away from 4 years of the military doing it to me. Plus, I didnt want to join the one and only sorority on campus just to be able to say that I was in a sorority. Fall semester, I didnt have much of a choice - if I wanted to join a sorority, that one was it. I chose to not join.
Now, when Alpha Xi Delta started advertising on campus in January - after a miserable first semester with no social life, no friends, all work and no play, it made me reconsider my thoughts on whether or not I wanted to join one. I decided "What the hell, I'll go to the information session and see what they are all about. It cant hurt, right?" Little did I know what I was getting myself into.
I was sold. SPSU didnt have many women (17% or so at that time, I think). Sorority women had lots of opportunities, leadership skills, etc...and if I joined this one, I wouldnt have to conform to rules and regulations - I would be able to help create them - along with traditions that would be followed for years and years. You see, Alpha Xi Delta was going to be a colony that semester, and the girls who joined would be the founding sisters.
I didnt know anything about sororities. I had some negative opinions based on the media, but nobody in my family was Greek, at least, not that I knew of, and so I didnt really have much to go on. Of course, everybody knows the whole "buying your friends" stereotype...but to that, I now say 'Whatever' bc everything in life costs something. Be it band, football, cross country, or boy scouts - you have to pay for everything in life...so whatever.
To this day, I remember being at home on the evening of the preference ceremony that I had been invited to, after attending the information sessions. I was in my bedroom with my mom, brushing my hair, making sure I looked okay, and my mom just laughed at me. I told her "I cannot believe I'm falling for this sorority crap. I'm going to be really disappointed if they dont pick me. Now that I've decided I want to do it - what if they turn me down?"
Well, needless to say, I was worrying for nothing. As a 23 year old freshman and still-salty sailor, I became one of the chosen few to become a founding sister of Alpha Xi Delta at SPSU. I dove right in. The first semester as a colony was the hardest. We lost a few girls who decided they couldnt handle it. We had ALOT of work to do. We had to write our chapter documents, figure out which of us was going to hold what officer position, we had to learn financial management...because it was a small business, ya know...and in the midst of all that - we were supposed to have fun and be sisters. It was hard. Ask any colony member of any sorority, and they'll tell you the same thing.
Because we were such a small school, with not many females, our membership numbers were low the first few years (less than 10). Because of this, I got to hold more than one office, and REALLY had the opportunity to "realize my potential." I held the offices of recording secretary, ritual chair, alumnae relations, office manager, financial vice president, publicity chair, webmaster, and new member orientation chair during my 3 1/2 years active in the chapter. At least...those are the offices I remember holding. I probably did more than that for all I know.... Looking back, it's obvious that my leadership strengths came from being the busy bee worker in the background. I did the little stuff that most everybody else forgot about...and I'm GOOD at it too.
I got my degree in Information Technology. I love computers. I love web design. As soon as I can afford to take more classes to learn more web design, I'm doing to work on improving my skills. However, I've recently had an Ah-Hah! moment. The stuff I did in the background as a collegiate..... The things I do as an advisor for another chapter now..... The research and follow up on problems, or researching new ideas, or finding new ways to help with PR, etc etc....those are the things I have realized that I am really good at. I realized this weekend that if I could find a job, doing the exact same stuff I do for the sorority, I would be the happiest person in the world. But what kind of title does "busy bee worker behind the scenes" have in corporate america? Is he/she an event planner? Is he/she a campus activities advisor (another job I would LOVE to have, but sorry, I am not going back to school for a masters degree to make $35K a year, nu uh.) I love working with computers, but I think if I could figure out what kind of job to look for to do the stuff I'm good at, I'd be better off...I think my ideal job is somewhat of a mix between administrative assistant, event planner and campus activities advisor combined. What the heck do you call that?
SO yeah....if you're reading this....and you know what kind of job I'm talking about...or if nothing else ....what kind of title a person that does those things would have...please enlighten me. That way, I can change my job search focus from computers to ...whatever else it might be. And if you're in the Atlanta area and know someone who is hiring that kind of position....please give me the 411. Thanks.
