Publishing on a weekly basis is quite the challenge, since I like to put excessive thought into the substance I write. More often than not, the themes and pieces begin to write themselves through experience, daily living, and intertwined peer conversations. It’s some sort of organic growth.
This week, this post digresses slightly from the culinary and hospitality world and instead it focuses on some sort of unspoken truth. This post is also a collaboration between my best friend Mario Maura, and I. When I talk about “peer conversations,” I usually refer to conversations with this man. Nevertheless, the unspoken truth we speak of, we like to refer to as, everybody’s “hero’s journey.” As the early mid 20’s young professional millennials we are, we happen to be experiencing a very interesting life period. The word about millennials is that we were “raised with the idea we could do anything and get any job we wanted after college.” Pardon for the slight disconnect, but my memory does not recall this promise so vividly.
What I do recall is the encouragement to study hard with an attached promise that one day I would see “results.” I was given the sense that with an education I would achieve greater purposes in life… Which is an infinite truth. I constantly remind myself that, “no man has ever been hurt by an excess amount of knowledge, but many men have been deterred from achieving greater results due to their lack of knowledge.”
I digress. What I am trying to say is no one really saw where our reality was heading. Back in the late 90’s early 2000’s, life seemed to go nowhere but upwards. People graduated from college and were hired for jobs. Or at least, that’s what it seemed like. And with that ideal in mind, millennials grew up hoping to follow the same path. The reality is that transitioning from a life-time student to the “real world adult” is not easy. Finding your path, your opportunity, your niche, and ultimately your happiness takes quite some time. This period - or life transition - is what we like to refer to as “the hero’s journey.”
In all of mythology there is the concept of a path one must take to form their ideal selves. This idea was passed on as stories told from generations of old to the younger less experienced crop of humans being born into the world. Think of the great Greek mythology following all of the exploits of their idolized heroes; Hercules, Odysseus, & Percius. Each one of these heroes needed to go through several different tasks to find their true calling.
My friend, you and I are in very similar shoes as the aforementioned heroes.
Several times in life, we often don't understand situations until we experience them. It is crucial to understand these first few years of “adulting" will have many hurdles. Be ready to face frustrations due to failures, but attached with these there will be much personal and professional growth. Understand, and really digest this next though: what is about to come is not written in stone. There are many paths to take. There will be a time of adjustment and transition from one life chapter to another. This phase is the “now what?” time in life. We are educated and have acquired knowledge on an industry in which we feel is our passion, and would stay in for a major part of our lives, but is that it? Is there ever true happiness in doing one thing for the rest of our time on this Earth, or are we creatures that require progression to be happy?
It’s a great question. As I’ve seen and experienced it, some of us will find a job that will be a stepping stone onto an even bigger job; meaning, some will not be joyous with their first job right out of college, but this will lead to greener pastures. Some of us will have the blessing of finding a job to be launched into our careers. Yet, others will travel and experience this journey with an adventure tone, living and growing personally more than professionally (as everyone should at some point in life). Some will go back home and gain experience for bigger opportunities. Some will go into grad school to further their education, and achieve an even higher and different goal. Others, unfortunately will struggle to find their catapult and will be underemployed for some time.
I have seen examples of each of these situations happen to people who graduated from my alma mater, and even some who have graduated from an Ivy League. This hero’s journey can be tough. However, it doesn’t mean it is impossible to pass. Whichever your situation may be, know, and seriously KNOW, this time is temporary and you are not alone.
It is during these years when we can do whatever we please. There may be some priorities at first, but know that these first couple of years after college are (as a friend put it very well) “an opportunity to (insert blank here)”. Difficulties and reality will be part of our daily living, but pushing through the storm and not letting life and your own self beat you, will lead to a paved path to enjoy later on. Opportunities, there are many, but each one of us has to personally go out and make these opportunities come to life through the work we do and the paths we take. As my dad has told me several times,“Take everything with ease. Everything in life will come eventually. Make calm wise decisions.” Or as my mom has always taught me, “Don’t burn stages.” They were both right.
My recommendation, and that’s all this is: as millennials we like everything done fast. Don’t fret. Take this time alone to truly explore your mind, find out as many things about yourself as you care to. Delve deep into the root of your soul and being. Instead of spending this time ‘wasting’ it, invest it; find out your dreams, your goals, your passions, everything you wish to have in your life. For we guarantee you, you are not alone. Open up your soul and offer it to those around you, so they may do the same. For what is the meaning of life, but to be alive and experience the flurry of emotions available to you? How can you truly experience all these emotions on your own? Life is not meant to be experienced as a lonesome soul.
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