(2001's The Royal Tenenbaums; Red House Painters)
Henry James' The Real Thing is a short story about a painter who hires out a far-past-their-prime couple to model for his work. The Monarchs, unable to fulfill the painter's needs appropriately, end up damaging his work on a long-term basis, while a lower-class couple encompasses the painter's ideas more accurately. In short, the painter chases what he considers to be the real thing at face value without exploring for deeper meaning, permanently altering his career, work, and stories.
There comes a point in time where a person has to stop, consider their work, and ask themselves, "what am I chasing?" The idea of the real thing as an attainable goal of a job/monetary success/happy family/other values is flimsy, even as a generic concept. Meg Jay's The Defining Decade encounters the lives of several twenty-something individuals, walking the reader through stories that many of us who are in college, graduated, or just starting out can identify and feel with.
There comes a point in time where a person has to stop, consider their work, and ask themselves, "what am I chasing?" The idea of the real thing as an attainable goal of a job/monetary success/happy family/other values is flimsy, even as a generic concept. Meg Jay's The Defining Decade encounters the lives of several twenty-something individuals, walking the reader through stories that many of us who are in college, graduated, or just starting out can identify and feel with.
Jay presents the idea of chasing your dreams as your own personal real thing, using job searching as her category in one quote: “Do something that adds value to who you are. Do something that's an investment in who you might want to be next.” Essentially, we shouldn't be chasing whatever we can find in the manner of a younger dog playing with a chew toy until it has shredded it more than the Spurs offense shreds opponents, ready to move onto the next one. Working at Starbucks or Kroger helps in a monetary sense for a short period of time, but job-hopping adds nothing to one's résumé, only making the waters murkier while making your own advancement more difficult.
The most depressing thought a person can encounter is the idea of putting in hard work and large amounts of time, only to realize that these efforts may have ended up being a march towards futility. I don't consider my work with education to be anything in that light - my dear mother went the same path as I, getting a teaching license, although never using it - but it's a thought that entered my head while on vacation and I can't figure out how to let it escape.
Over the last two weeks, I've struggled a lot with figuring out my own path in life. The idea of false-starting over and over as if time were indeed a flat circle is something all too familiar to a 20-year-old three major changes in and still as lost as ever. The thought of the college experience being a thinly-veiled monetary scam is one for another time, but part of me continues to wonder if I've found the right road yet.
I still consider education to be a path of priority, along with continuing to plan on interviewing in November to enter the program at the University of Tennessee. For the first time, though, I find myself opening my eyes to other available paths that suddenly look quite attractive and enjoyable - business, finance, marketing, etc. Decade answers several questions I had had previously about the job market, such as "will employers still hire me if my degree seemingly has no relation whatsoever to the job?" (Answer: yes. Businesses of all sizes are a diverse workplace and need a large variety of skills to operate with efficiency.)
My biggest worry upon writing this is that friends, relatives, and my poor mother will read this and see it as a final suicide note to a path that I had considered worth the adversity for some time. It isn't that, exactly; it's more of looking at the idea of reopening your commitment. As a collegian and follower of several different sports, the idea of recruitment and commitment and something I've encountered and will continue to encounter for a long time. Comforting, for the most part.
Will
Writing is fun. Keep updated with my other work at In Appreciation Of.
Over the last two weeks, I've struggled a lot with figuring out my own path in life. The idea of false-starting over and over as if time were indeed a flat circle is something all too familiar to a 20-year-old three major changes in and still as lost as ever. The thought of the college experience being a thinly-veiled monetary scam is one for another time, but part of me continues to wonder if I've found the right road yet.
I still consider education to be a path of priority, along with continuing to plan on interviewing in November to enter the program at the University of Tennessee. For the first time, though, I find myself opening my eyes to other available paths that suddenly look quite attractive and enjoyable - business, finance, marketing, etc. Decade answers several questions I had had previously about the job market, such as "will employers still hire me if my degree seemingly has no relation whatsoever to the job?" (Answer: yes. Businesses of all sizes are a diverse workplace and need a large variety of skills to operate with efficiency.)
My biggest worry upon writing this is that friends, relatives, and my poor mother will read this and see it as a final suicide note to a path that I had considered worth the adversity for some time. It isn't that, exactly; it's more of looking at the idea of reopening your commitment. As a collegian and follower of several different sports, the idea of recruitment and commitment and something I've encountered and will continue to encounter for a long time. Comforting, for the most part.
Will
Writing is fun. Keep updated with my other work at In Appreciation Of.
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