20somethings and the purpose-driven life, part two

So, zero beers have been consumed since the last post, but today I decided to get personal about the past few months for me. If you've been wondering why I changed career paths suddenly, or if you want to witness a 20something year old finding purpose in her life instead of getting lost and accepting the lifestyle of an aimless wanderer, you've come to the right place.



So I was talking to my best friend from college the other day, and that's what sparked this whole post about buzzwords like purpose and fulfillment. I read a few opinion posts on LinkedIn from business professionals who collectively agree that millennials in entry-level positions don't deserve fulfillment, or at least they shouldn't expect it for at least a decade.

That's not fair! I totally disagree with that sentiment! (says the millennial)

In their defense, these LinkedIn articles were responding to the ever-growing statistic that employees between the ages of 18 and 34 tend to change jobs within the first year of staying at a company. I don't deny the fact that this is a real problem with my generation; on the other hand, instead of saying that we should buckle down and stay unhappy at a single workplace, I propose another solution:

Discover purpose.

^ close, but no cigar

Wow, easier said than done, I know. Not too long ago, I was there with you. I applied to twenty jobs via Craigslist, easily. The most prominent positions were dog-walking and a ton of nanny positions. I have experience in both realms, but my mom verbally slapped me upside the head. She said, "Why don't you actually try a job that challenges you? Something you can use that college degree for?"

Oops. She was right. I had gone to college and am currently paying the massive student loans for a generic international business bachelor's degree. It was actually an amazing education, and I loved every single business class (except for you, Financial Accounting. I still dislike you). The thing about it being broad ("So what do international business majors actually do?") is that, after graduation, I wasn't sure where I fit in.

So then I started applying to every end of the business spectrum. I applied for entry-level jobs in finance, logistics, sales, etc.

And at that point, I was down for whoever would reply to my application and single-paged resume, as long as it was somewhere I wouldn't mind living and wasn't an unpaid internship "with great learning opportunities."

Cue my moment of realization.

"What's my purpose?" I finally asked myself (and by finally, I mean, 'What took so long?').

The reason I had put the Marine Corps route behind me is because, with my body type, achieving the standards of physical fitness and height-weight ratio that the military required me to be was indirectly encouraging unhealthy habits and negative body image problems upon me. It wasn't the Marine Corp's problem, but it was and still is definitely mine, bordering into an eating disorder.

And so I left my first life-long dream behind in pursuit of living a life worth being called exemplary.

Voilà, my purpose.

I knew that, no matter what I did in life, I wanted to live an exemplary one. Knowing that much (or that little) was the start of everything. I continued with that train of thought — how do I, personally, define an exemplary life? 

Safe? Not exactly. Driven? Definitely.

From there I charted a plan for myself. I filled my plans with goals that made me happy, but I also made sure that they made sense. One year, 5 years, 10 years. Obviously you can't plan that far out in advance because everything can change in an instant. But at least I finally knew what I wanted out of my life.

And you've read them before. For instance, I got a job at a great workplace in public relations (Hey, I'm a people person). And, within the year I want to have my own apartment, and I want to be in a good place with my body image. I want to be fit, healthy, and perfectly content with how I got there. I also want to be set in a career; not quite entry-level, but with a ton of promise for the future. I want to challenge my mind every day with what I do for a living.

That much I know. And that's where I find my purpose.

Every day's a challenge. A challenge to be a better person, a challenge to meet my short-term goals for myself, and a challenge to find purpose for myself in every aspect of my life.

Do all 20somethings need to have the same purpose? Hell no. Not everyone needs my goals; these are perfectly tailored to me.

Do you need to have everything figured out, too? Double hell no. I definitely don't have anything figured out. If I did, I wouldn't be making these goals for myself or trying to find purpose, because I would already be where I want to go.

20somethings: you're doing it wrong

What I'm saying is, life is so much more than the existential, dadaist crap that music videos about parties and dancing life-sized stuffed animals try to sell to us. We aren't meant to just coast through life in a daydream. I fully believe that daydreams are merely inspiration for us to create something real with the time we have on this earth.

So, yes, I believe 20somethings should be fulfilled, and now. But it's wholly up to you to find that fulfillment.

And go.