Cheers to One Year

I have been thinking about this post for the better part of well, the last year, and now that it’s time to write it, I’m at my keyboard at a bit of a loss.

My “cheers to one year” is not only incredibly cliché, but is incredibly accurate. I moved here one year ago today, and yep you guessed it - my celebration is in reference to both living in LA and to my job, which LinkedIn conveniently reminded me that it’s time to celebrate.

I could sit here and write about what I’ve learned about LA, about myself, about working in this industry, and about how different of a person I am today than I was last May. And it’s not to say that I haven’t learned anything, or that I am the same person, because I’m definitely not. But nobody is after a year (at least I hope not.) And you could probably already guess everything that would be on that list of things I’ve learned. So what fun is reading something that you already know the ending to?

But to honor my one-year “anniversary,” I figured I had to at least write something. So here goes…

We’ll start with the living in LA anniversary, because this milestone technically happened first (by about 36 hours.)

I will say that although it’s only been a year, I feel like it’s worth celebrating. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my family. I tend to overlook the help and support I received by both my parents and my brother and now sister-in-law.

Living in my brother and sister-in-law’s place for $100/month for three months is not exactly sexy. In fact, it’s the opposite. And I almost regret that I even used that word in the same sentence as family members. But ya get the idea. The point is, you do what ya gotta do to make your dreams come true. And those dreams are much easier to achieve when you have the right people there to help you like I did.

But have my dreams come true? In a year?

Every now and then I break down and cry because LA can be so mean, and the people can be so tough. I wonder if it’s really a place that I belong in, and if it’s really worth my time and seriously high income tax. And I’ll never forget when my sister-in-law told me, “L.A. will kick you out if you’re not strong enough to handle it,” and she’s right.

I can’t even say how many times I’ve wanted to give up and move back to the Midwest where people are nice and I have real friends (and good friends at that) and have at least one paycheck’s worth of cash in my account at all times. How many times I’ve realized that I’m not a “SoCal girl,” and I don’t have the b*tchiness to keep up in this cutthroat world. How many times I’ve questioned if advertising is really even for me.

Which brings me to my next point: work. Ironically, on this one-year anniversary of being here, for the first time today I didn’t feel like the new kid anymore. It was another girl’s first day and she now sits directly across from me, which inherently positions me as her go-to for any and all new-kid-on-the-block questions. It feels good to have the answers and even better to retire that new kid feeling, even if it was a year in the making.

Looking back a year ago, am I where I thought I’d be by now? I’m not really sure. But I will say that regardless of where I’m at, I’m thankful that I’m here and thankful that I’m still going strong. More or less.

I think the biggest and greatest feeling after having been here for a year is that I can finally call LA my home. Even with as many moments of wanting to storm out of here with my middle finger in the air and never look back, this is my home and I love it. I love the energy, the weather, (obviously) the history. But above all, I love the challenge. There’s nothing like a giant wall you have to climb to appreciate that view below.

So in my one-year toast to myself, instead of boasting about how “LA didn’t kick me out,” and how “I’m strong enough to hold a job for year…” I’d rather just say thank you in a genuine way and not a “my life is so blessed” kind of way. (Sorry to those that speak like that, but for some reason saying ‘hashtag blessed’ at the end of a tweet just erks me.)

Thank you to those who have listened to me complain and vent about how difficult life can be out here. Thank you to those who have spent money to come and visit me, and more importantly, if you’re still reading this - thanks for coming along for the ride. Like I’ve been saying all along, I am overly-conscious about my writing and sometimes posting my words feels as though I’m running outside naked in front of hundreds of people. But at least now it’s starting to feel like I just forgot pants, and there's only a handful of people. 

So is this all that I cracked it out to be? (This being this post in celebration of my one-year mark) Not at all. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m rambling. But my fingers are tired and my 2:30 feeling is kicking in. (Cue the McDonald’s iced coffee commercial.)

So here’s to making it happen for a whole 365 days now. Here’s to not getting kicked out (yet) and here’s to another year of my California-cation.

Now, where’s the André?

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The Real World...

I know what you’re thinking.

Okay, here she goes with the rant on how difficult the real world is and how this lesson has taught her that and how living in LA must mean she’s better than everyone else in the world because she “did it.” And although I have a tendency to write about my over-comings and my experiences within this so-called “real world,” (especially in LA) what I haven’t been doing is appreciating it. I haven’t been appreciating how awesome this world and this life really is. Even despite all of my “post-grad” grumbles.

I was recently signing a grad card to a good friend of mine who just wrapped up an awesome 4 years at KU. (Who didn’t have an awesome 4 years at KU though?) And one of the things I wrote in the card was, “and just remember, the real world doesn’t have to suck if you don’t let it.”

But really, it doesn’t have to.

We all fall into the pit of “life after college” and there are countless articles and blog posts and tweets about how depressed we all are after such an awesome experience and how sad we all are that “the best four years of our lives are over.” But what you seem to never ever see (and I’m guilty for it as well) is people talking about how much fun they’re having or how awesome life is while it’s happening.

The thing we all seem to forget (or maybe we just don’t know) is how that fun doesn’t have to stop just because a chapter in life ends. Just because something is over, or just because there’s a transition in life doesn’t mean it has to be filled with sadness. It doesn’t mean that it can’t still be fun.

I’m here to say that despite all of my complaining and eye rolling and nostalgia induced tears when looking at graduation pictures over the last couple of weeks, I really do enjoy the real world, and I enjoy it because I’ve made it enjoyable.

Who’s to say that just because college is over and you’re officially in “the real world” that you can’t have fun? That you can’t walk to a gas station by yourself in your pj’s and get ice cream super late at night? Obviously it was a little more fun when that ice cream was McDonalds at 2am and that walk was a car full of friends, but still. There’s still something fun about it.

And having fun doesn’t have to entail doing what you did in college. My idea of fun now is admittedly very different than what I thought was fun even a year ago. I’ll be the first to say I’m not itching for a dance floor come Thursday night, and I don’t necessarily have to go out and get wasted to consider a Friday night a success. (Admittedly, that was once my thought process.)

You just have to realize that you have the power to do what you want with your life. You have the control to be fun, or to not.

Sure, I may not be a social butterfly on the town every weekend and I certainly don’t hit up every Happy Hour nearby, but I still have fun doing other things, and I love what I do for a living. And what could be more fun than that?

Of course I get bored and need adventures every now and then. Of course there are nights that I find myself watching endless amounts of mindless television and think, wow my life is boring I wish my friends were here. But it’s also at those moments of complete boredom that I wake up and think, what am I doing? It’s time to get up and do something with myself, because I can. And because the real world doesn’t have to suck. If you don't let it.

So for all you recent grads and people moving back home and living a life of so-called “post-whatever depression,” get up and get moving. Life is beautiful and it goes by way too fast. I can hardly believe I’ve been out here for a year already.

That being said, there’s no sense in wasting time sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself wishing that you had something that you don’t - like friends, or your college life back, or that you could go abroad again. Of course we all wish that and want that, and 9 times out of 10 we don’t realize what we have until it’s gone, but that’s all the more reason to plan another trip or do something else fun and new and exciting.

And along with that, (apologies for sounding preachy) we should appreciate what we have while we have it. We should write about it and tell the world about how awesome life is, while it’s happening. And if life isn’t awesome enough to write about and brag about, then something needs to change.

Because like I said, the real world doesn’t have to suck if you don’t let it. But the keyword there is you. You are supposed to not let it suck. You are in charge of your own happiness, and only you have the power to do something about it.

So go get ice cream in your jammies or get a drink on a Monday night by yourself, or do whatever it is that makes you happy. (Note: I don’t encourage Monday night trips to the bar by yourself…but I will say that I’ve done it…)

Because doing anything less than what makes you happy is just a waste of time.

J

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