On not being a student anymore

Lola, looking how I felt this summer

This is the first September since I was 5 years old that I did not start a new school year. For the past four years the start of August signaled the start of my last few weeks at home. I start packing right around the second week of August, going room by room and wrangling everything that I'll be taking to school with me into one corner of the house. By the third week of August I've started having nightmares about missing the first day of class (yes, I really did have nightmares about strange circumstances that would keep me away from class on the first day. I really am that big of a nerd). Then it's time to cram everything into my car and start a new semester.

This year is different. Instead of starting something new, I'm pleasantly settled into a routine already, and while it's nice it's also completely unchartered territory for me.

I was so exhausted at the end of last semester I remember thinking, "I just want to be out of school for a while. I just want to have a job, and not have to constantly worry about papers and homework and finals."

In reality the transition from student to regular person was a bit more tumultuous than that. But thankfully friends, this terrible summer is nearly over and I find myself really enjoying things like: being able to read for fun, having days off in the middle of the week, having a job I adore, just having time.

I lost sight of things at the beginning of the summer but now I fully appreciate that this year I'll be able to make all those time consuming recipes I've collected on Pinterest, I'll be able to let my inner Martha Stewart shine, take up new hobbies and do all the things I couldn't do when (almost) every moment of my spare time was spent working on school.

So while I greatly regret the loss of my student discount, I'm going to do my best to savor this new season.

How did you deal with the transition out of being a student?

<3

Employed!

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I have a job now!

I've delayed posting this because I'm not sure how much personal information I want to share in this space. (Especially the type of personal information that pertains to my physical location.) I know how easy it is to find these details out and I don't want to make it easier any creepers to do their creepin'. So for now we'll just say that I work in retail for a fresh, handmade cosmetics company and I am overjoyed to be employed there. Seriously, I've wanted to work for this particular company for so long that I was even following the twitter where they post job listings because I did not want to miss out on any openings. I tried not to get my hopes up too much throughout the interview process, and when they offered me the job I was ecstatic.

Every time I go in and put on my apron it feels like a dream. After 2.5 months of unemployment I was going crazy not having anything to do. It sounds like a short amount of time now but it was terrifying when there was no end in sight, especially for someone who's always planning for the next task on the horizon. It's been a particularly tough summer and this job has been a ray of sunshine lifting my spirits.

So yes. I have a job with a company I'm proud to work for and it's makes me happy every day.

How do you guys feel about the places you work?

<3