I looked at my Facebook feed for the first time in a few weeks this morning. Here’s the first thing I saw:
This is a friend who I went to school in the US with and sadly, her situation seems to be the norm these days, rather than the exception. What makes her exceptional is that she was brave enough to share it and reach out for help.
Here’s the comment I wrote:
D, you’re not the biggest loser. You’re just one of millions of people who have fallen into the trap of a fundamentally broken and outdated education system. I’m sorry. Now let’s focus on getting you out and up again, okay?
First, I want you to remember this: There is no HR department at the graveyard. We all get in there and no one will care about your resumé. Do you really think your resumé, your degree, one piece of paper is the key to a happy life? No. No. YOU’RE the key to a happy life.
Screw your resumé. Your resumé is not you. I want you to print it, look at it, laugh at it and then rip it to shreds. At least a thousand pieces. Show that thing who’s the boss. You’re the boss. And you’re the only person who controls your dreams.
I only know you a little bit D, but I know this: you like dressing up. Make-up. You like Cosplay. Theater. Guess what: You’re a creative person.
Which means whatever career will make you happy, nobody involved in it will give a shit about your resumé. Artists earn their place. You have to earn it. Show your work. You can’t be lazy. It’s up to you to CREATE the job you want. No gatekeeper, no old white dude in a chair, no panel of judges will somehow magically open a door for you because you slipped them a piece of paper. You have to build the door and then open it yourself. Sometimes, you even have to tear the whole fucking wall down.
Stop waiting to be picked. Pick yourself. Create a Youtube channel. Write about your passions on a blog. Kill it on Instagram. Act in a play. Another play. Another play. A thousand plays. Go to every Cosplay convention.
It doesn’t matter what you do. As long as you do. Stop waiting. The world is waiting for you to show it what you’ve got. It has been for a while. It’s time. Leave the college shit in college. You’re a grown up now. Life’s too short to live it inside the walls of your resumé. Tear them down. Make the entire world your canvas. Leave footprints everywhere. Let your life be your resumé.
So that one day, when you show up at the graveyard, they’ll say “Wow! You’ve done a lot. They’ll remember you for a long time.” You’ll be let in either way. But it’s up to you to knock on the gate without regrets. For now, I’ll keep looking for your footprints. I hope I’ll see them soon.
-Nik
Deep down, everyone asking that questions already knows what they want to do.
- Afraid of what’ll happen when they go for it.
- Afraid of what the world will look like from the outside.
- Afraid of the problems they’ll run into.
- Afraid of what their parents will think.
- Afraid of facing their own demons.
- Afraid of losing their friends.
- Afraid of failing.
- Afraid of succeeding.
Whatever it is that makes you most afraid of all these things, that’s the thing you need to do.
But here’s a secret: All the people out there already going for that stuff? They don’t have a clue either. And they’re scared shitless too.
It’s just that we’ve decided to be out here in the cold anyway. We’ll keep fighting. And we’ll still be here when you join us. Here for you.
We’re all in this together.
