I graduated from college in May of 2015 and took a job working for my town as a temporary job until I got a job and the funds to move back to Philadelphia. A year rolled by and I was still at the job I told myself I would only stay at for the summer. I was bored, working long days, had a lot of responsibility and not enough support. Most importantly, I wasn’t getting paid enough in my opinion. In August of 2016, I put in my two month notice and decided to quit my job. I had no back up job planned or plans to get another one. I just knew I had to quit my job. For someone who has her day all planned out, this was very stressful for me to do, but I knew it was time to leave that job.

The last week of September was my final week at my job and that Friday I hopped on a plane and went to Nashville with some college friends. When the plane took off, I didn’t have a job to come back to. But when my plane landed, I had picked up two part time jobs to start the following week. Since October of 2016, I have been working part time at a college in New Jersey and working part time at J. Crew. These were jobs I could work to pay my bills until I found a full time job or figured out if I could move t to a new state. I started making plans to move out of my parents house and move to Philadelphia, but financially I could not find a job that would allow me to afford an apartment and still pay for my car and student loan at the same time. Once again, I was stuck putting my plans on hold to move out. I started to dread working at the college. It became a part time desk job that was a little boring to be honest. I preferred my retail job and was always volunteering to pick up extra hours and such. When Christmas rolled by, friends and family started to ask what I was doing. I would respond that I was working 7 days a week working two part time jobs. To be honest, I didn’t know how to answer because I did not know what I was doing with my life.  I was able to make my schedule at the college just two days a week and still get everything done. The rest of my week, I spent at J. Crew working almost  40 hours a week. I was tired. I was always running around. But I love being busy. Free time is a bit confusing for me because I am not sure what to do with it.

In May, I started making plans to move again. I started to apply to jobs and see if the universe was telling me that I was meant to move there. I found an apartment, was sending out cover letters and resumes. I was typing up my two weeks notice letter for the job at the college thrilled that I wouldn’t have to do that long commute anymore. But the Universe had other plans for me. In June, my old job working with my town asked me to come back as a consultant and plan the town 4th of July parade because they didn’t have someone to plan it and I had done it the past year. I told myself that after the parade I would go back to trying to find a job and working on the move. I started to pack up boxes and label them for the move.

A few days later, I was given the opportunity to take on more responsibility at J. Crew and become an Assistant Manager at my store. I was called into the back office one day thinking I was going to get in trouble and instead this opportunity was presented to me. I think I awkwardly laughed when this opportunity was presented to me. Here I was making plans and the Universe was sending me off on another direction. Of course I accepted it, but still planned on coming back to the plans of moving in the future.

I went to college and worked hard to get a degree in Sociology and Management while working multiple jobs as well as internships to make my resume perfect for post-grad. I took a desk job to use it as a stepping stone to move to another company. But the more time I spent at a desk doing work, the more I dreaded going to work. In college, I spent my summers in retail and knew it would be a job I could do. I would go in and not have to take my work home with me and I am a social person so I have always enjoyed working retail. Never did I imagine that a career in retail is where I saw myself headed.

My parents and I paid a very pretty penny for my degree in sociology so I could work in nonprofits. A job I have wanted to do since I was 7 years old. In college, my friends and I had all of these plans and dreams of changing the world. But when we get together, I hear stories about how they have changed jobs multiple times or are going in a different field than what they got their degree in. My part time job at J. Crew was supposed to be for making money to pay for my car payments, but instead I fell in love with it. Not once have I dreaded going into work. I go into J. Crew and get to work on projects, design displays, dress strangers and I have an amazing team to work with.

This is not the life I had planned for myself back in 2015. Is it possible to say that it is even better than I imagined? If you are not where you thought you would be in your life, it is okay! It’s funny how we make detailed plans for our life, and they never work out the way we want them to. Even though we know that life does not go as planned, we continue to plan out our lives and continue to get disappointed when they don’t go as planned. I had planned to have my own apartment by now, brunching with the girlfriends on Sundays, going to the gym everyday and have a lot more money in my savings account than I do now. But right now, I am still living with my parents, I spent my Sundays at J. Crew and definitely have less than I want in my savings account.

Right now I am going with the flow and excited to see where the Universe takes me. My to do lists are less about where I want to be in life, but instead are filled with items I don’t need from Target!