My 2013 Reality

 Don't Stop

For the past 9 months of 2013 I have actively been seeking gainful employment. This mission was triggered by my desire to explore the world of International Development through my decision to move to the Washington DC Metro Area from Los Angeles, California. Now, 9 months later, I am still unemployed and still seeking opportunities that will warrant me sustainable income. 2013 has taught me that when you are in the midst of a struggle to not give up and that it is okay to ask for help every now and then. Most importantly no matter what keep striving and working towards what you desire.

As for living in DC, let’s just say this is a city where the best of the best social capital are working towards fueling the economic engine that runs America. So then, with that said, how does one attain an entry level opportunity into International Development? Over and over this year I have networked, hustled, and written resumes and cover letter to express my desire to tap into the world of international development. And 9 months later I am prepared to outsource myself and move aboard to volunteer in some developing nation. If you are not a returned Peace Corps Volunteer or have multiple degrees or have had some field experience somewhere access to jobs in International Development are scarce or not at all. So I am writing this post because I believe I have used every tactic, brain muscle and theory to score points in trying to get employed. Shucks, at one point I even decided to settle for a food service job so that I may have some money in my pocket to get by. Early in my venture I did not assume this would be a cake walk, but I also did not imagine this would be as difficult as it has been. So to all the professionals in development, how did you break into the field of international development? What was your first International Development job? How old were you or when was it that you knew you wanted to work in Development? Aside from volunteering abroad and or during the Peace Corps or attaining a Master’s Degree in what other ways can one attain a job in Development?

Lastly, I’m tired of this struggle but I am not stopping till I get to where I need to be and where I am wanted.

Side Note: 

In what capacity do I want to work in International Development?

I want and highly desire an entry level opportunity in International Development that will enable me to work in youth development and or social enterprise. I enjoy working with youth and want to help others create small business through sustainable efforts that will create income generation and job creation. 

Song of this Post:  She by Laura Mvula

 

Sincerely, 

The Burgeoning Turtle

You Can Dance!

You can dance if you want to

When we were kids we were told not to talk to strangers, to look both ways before crossing the street and to ALWAYS say please and thank you. As we grow old and become adults those same rules apply but now we have the freedom to choose whether we apply them or not. As a child your not fully aware why your parents' are instilling values and moral into your character, you simply do what they say and in the midst of that, they are teaching us to be cautious with our words, kind with our actions and hesitant in taking risks. Now, as an adult I find myself with those same values that my mother instilled in me but along with that are also some of her fears that she instilled through her ways and perspective on life. The older I get I find it amazing how similar I am to my mother and how I carry some of her characteristics and manners. But I digress, I was moved to write this blog post because I want to share and express the importance of taking risk and believing in chance. I've stepped out on faith and believed in chance multiple times which has benefited me greatly. Sometimes it's feast and sometimes its famine and its always a lesson to be learned. I believe we all must go through a trail and error phase where we discover what we like and where exactly our passion will direct us. And with the risk of taking a chance and stepping out on faith, one must also believe that pursuing anything will always have some sort of risk. The beautiful part of it all, is that when you make the decision to act on intuition and go for your goals its you simply deciding to dance to your own tune. For some, this may take a lifetime to learn and for others its second nature. I call it dancing with life, sometimes you will have a partner, sometimes you will be alone, sometimes your steps are organized and most of the time you are dancing by chance. Be daring, be brave and be willing to dance in risk believing that at the end of it all you will come out on top!

Song of this post: The Safety Dance by Sleeping at Last


Sincerely,

The Burgeoning Turtle

What's Important?

What's Important? 

Ever since I turned 25, my view of life has transformed into this more sincere, decisive and genuine perspective. I suppose its me finally taking life seriously and concluding I must make more decisive choices as it pertains to my well being. Simply put, for me its been the first hump in my maturation and for that I am grateful. After all not everyone is blessed to see their 25th birthday. Now, at 26 I've narrowed down what I must do to sustain my peace of mind and stay sane is this chaotic world that we live in. Below I have outlined 6 things that I believe are imperative for one to prosper, succeed and most importantly sustain peace of mind. This year I finally realized that my sanity is just that.. "my sanity" and I must not let others cripple my thought process or my self esteem, it took me 26 years to finally say no and not put someone elses happiness over mine. Can you imagine living a life pleasing others while you are dying inside? Yup, that was me for a long time. It took  breaking up from my first love, a crippling mother daughter relationship and failing graduate school for me to realize that my happiness is just as important as others.

6 Things to Prioritize to Sustain Peace of Mind

1. Keeping God First

If  and when you feel alone and think there is no one else by your side, there is ALWAYS God. I have not always been religious, prayerful or a strong dedicated Christian but this year I rededicated my life to Christ and actually joined a church. And for those that know me, this was a life changing experience to say the least and I am super excited! I still am growing in the word of Christ but I now realize having a relationship with God will ultimately sustain my peace of mind. I am not where I want to be yet but I am not who and where I used to be! Amen!

2. Maintaining Friendships

I struggle with this daily. Its not often I pick up the phone and call a friend to ask how they are doing but the older I get the more I realize how important it is to maintain friendships and have a inner circle of friends that support you. So the next time you think about a friend you have not heard from in a while, pick up the phone and call him or her. After all it only takes a few minutes to make a phone call and  ask how are you doing?

3. Family is Foundation

I grew up in a single parent household  as an only child and from that I am naturally comfortable with being alone. Recently, I've been labeled as self alienating myself which is practically a recluse. But I digress, family is Important and they serve as your foundation! This year has brought about some tough times for me and my family heard about my troubles because I was too proud to admit I needed help. When there is just you and God there is also  family to depend on. In addition to maintaining friendship, maintaining family relationships should be priority too. 

4. Education is Unending

I over heard my mother once say, Courtney will be in school forever. And the truth is she may be right! As my mother and perhaps others have observed I am a student of the world and with that mindset I believe education is unending. I believe there is always time to feed my mind and perhaps earn another degree, certificate or license. With the economy we live in now and as we proceed, the demand for highly skilled and talented human capital is increasing. However, for me education is a treat! I first discovered my passion for learning as a student of the illustrious Spelman College. 

5.  Love is a Gift

For the past two years, I've made my mistakes and have learned that love is a gift. A gift that should be cherished and nurtured. To find someone who loves you with your flaws is a unique blessing. I believe sex can fool you into love and that some of us can mistake lust for love. For the ladies, remember to always be true to yourself and not think having sex with a man will keep him in your life. Hold true to your values and love shall find you. 

6.  Life is for the Living

All to often I've heard this cliche quote life is for the living but the older I get the more it reigns true. Life is for the Living! And I have not been doing enough living. So, always remember to set aside some time to have fun. Too often I work and stress myself to the brink and forget that life is also to have fun. Yes, I am definitely guilty for not having enough fun and maintaining a balance of work and fun in my life. So in addition to all that I've already mentioned also set aside some time to have some fun and live your life. It's never too late to do what you have always wanted to do.

Song of this post: Those Who Wait by Daley

Sincerely,

The Burgeoning Turtle 

 Forgiveness

"Thank Life for the Lift that Forgiving Gives"

I believe most of us are challenged with not knowing how to practice true forgiveness. To forgive means to renounce anger or resentment against something or someone  and as simple as that sounds,  it has been a challenge for me to do, not to others but to myself. As I grow older I am amazed by how much childhood baggage as seeped and transferred into my adult life. Its also amazing how much self guilt and forgiving yourself can proceed self esteem and confidence. Yes its true I have insecurities and more growing to do when it comes to releasing burdens of my past and simply forgiving. So.. how does one forgive, and when do I start this process?

Today I had an epiphany which is "Thank Life for the Lift that Forgiving Gives". From this, I now have a greater thankfulness and gratitude for being alive to be able to experience things that beg for me to forgive others and myself. I believe to achieve true forgiveness one must emotionally release and detach the anxiety, anger and resentment associated with what they are to forgive. As I mentioned, I am not too sure how to begin this process but from this epiphany happening today I believe I have started the process. Most importantly I realize now more than I ever have that forgiveness is freedom! Freedom to live more happier,  freedom to be stress free, freedom to cry, freedom to let go of guilt and freedom to just be. Life is for the living so don't waste your energy harboring anger or resentment towards someone or something that needs to be forgiven, this includes YOURSELF!

Song of this post: You Will Know by Stevie Wonder

Sincerely,

The Burgeoning Turtle

"A Jack of Many Trades and a Master of None" 

I believe it is essential to work towards your likes and serve the world through your passions. However, it seems it takes some us some time to discover what we truly love to do and how we can do it to earn a living. As a young professional in my mid twenties I thought my life would be different right now but you live and you learn and I've realized the twenties (at least for myself) have been quite confusing. When I was in graduate school I often wondered why I was amongst so many seasoned professionals and older students and now I think I get it. My conclusion is, in life you don't really know what you truly want to do till after your twenties. The twenties a  time you discover who you really are and if your fortunate to find your soul mate during this time..well try your best not to screw things up and help each other along the way. 

Simply put the twenties can be a confusing time for some of us as we try to discover what are passions are and how we are going to create them into money making ideas. As of now, I believe I have become a jack of many trades and a master of none. I am very talented and skilled in many things such as; doing hair, social media management/ consultation, writing, researching, etc. Yet, I have not found that it factor that will focus me into my dream job. How do you do this? I suppose that is the million dollar question! It's not easy to navigate through your twenties with the like for so many things. Some are fortunate enough to fall into what they truly love while others like myself, will endure the trail and error process. Although currently times are bleak for me on most fronts, my faith insist I continue to press on. 

So, I say this all to make a point rather than rant about my personal woes of being under employed. To make it in life, one must do all one can to tap into your talents and discover what makes you happy, I mean truly happy. There is this "thing" we all have that we love to do and if we are fortunate enough to make that into a career I believe that contributes to a fulfilled life. Life is for the living and if you keep living as a jack of many trades never to become a master of one, then that creates a consistent flow of uncertainty and perhaps unfulfillment in life. I shall continue to press forward with my likes so I may advance my passions which for some time have sustained to be Fashion and International Development, the question is how will I  fuse the two making them into a compelling career?

Song of this post:  Everybody's Free (To Wear Suncreen)

Sincerely, 

The Burgeoning Turtle

The Preposterous Rants of an Unemployed Graduate

The Preposterous Rants of an Unemployed Graduate

"How can I help you, may I take your order?"

Often I find myself operating on auto pilot in this journey to find myself while pursuing my dreams. What is finding yourself? I think most of us master this concept sometime in life, however I hope to do so before I get too old. Back to the monotony  that has become my life which I am ashamed to admit but at this point of time, I feel propelled to share. You see, currently I work in food service, I wont name what company I work for, for I fear potential legal consequences since the internet is an open market.

So I work in food service. This came to be when I made the decision to move to the Washington DC Metro area from Los Angeles California without a job, or housing. This was a sudden move to say the least but much needed to preserve my sanity. Now that I am here and living in the the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area life has set in and I have bills and adult responsibilities to tend to. The bills, responsibilities of being adult is not what bothers me, its the consistent upward battle to gain financial stability being under employed. I deem myself under employed because as a college graduate I believe I am intelligent, articulate and possess enough skills to be gainfully employed in a professional environment but that has yet to happen.

So back to my rants of being employed in the food service world. Working in food service has truly been good to me, after all I am grateful to have a job however it too has its challenges. First and foremost, I've learned more Spanish working in this industry than I have in school (LoL). Secondly, customer service is not for the lighthearted. I truly believe rudeness is part of who some people are and let me not fail to mention those supervisors, shift leaders and general managers who take their job way too seriously and who partially treat you as if they actually own you as their slave. While at work, sometimes I think to myself this can't be real.

In addition, daily I recite the most common food service phase "How can I help you? May I take your order?" This question has the power to reduce, subdue and humble anyone as it has shown me that no matter where you come from we all have to do what we can to make a living. Through this daily recitation of this phrase I mingle with my weekly regulars conversing with them about our monthly specials while enticing them to spend more money on food I believe is already over priced!
Its amazing how repeating something over and over can begin to take your energy. It has began to drain me. Now, I understand that there are a lot of hard working poor people in America which in my opinion are the people working in food service for minimum wage. A meager 20-25 hours per week is still not enough money to live off of to eat and pay rent. What gives? Am I the only person that needs to eat everyday and pay for shelter? They say strife don't last always and those who weary in their good deeds shall not fret. Well too late, I am weary, fretting and over extending my energies to every potential professional job that comes my way. Most times I wonder are there other under employed college graduates in my position? After all I did not attend college and spend all that money to work in food service, I did it to serve in other means. But let me stop ranting and continue to muster up the patience to endure. For this is obviously not my season to reap whatever it is I am supposed to reap!

Song of this post: Wildflower by New Birth




Sincerely,

The Burgeoning Turtle