Friday, January 11, 2008

When in doubt, dial M.

With my imminent 33rd birthday and the recent realization of my dinosaur status in the food industry, I have to say I haven't been too chirpy about my hopes for a successful (or even semi-successful) career change.

Lucky for me, I got a call today from my trusty friend M., who always has a store of endless wisdom. Her advice to me was that no change comes without suffering and anything is possible if you have the will and creativity to do it. You forget this little fact when you've lived a comfortable corporate-office-with-bi-weekly-salary path for ten years. How ironic it is to have a creative job that corners you into an inside-the-box lifestyle.

I'm not one to make new years resolutions (as friend G. says, 'You're setting yourself up for failure'), and I've never been the type to fill out those "Goals" boxes in my agendas, but one theme I will anticipate for myself this year is hardship. Koreans have a saying that you can't buy the benefits of hardship in your youth with money. Well, I ain't gettin' any younger so I might as well put in my time now while I can and try to reap those benefits.

Thanks for all the support, everyone. And thanks, M., for coming to my rescue again.

3 comments:

Carmen said...

yeah, M's good!

Gerry Schramm said...

You know, not everything worthwhile should be difficult to do, and not everything that's easy to do is worth doing. I like to do the things that are both easy and worthwhile. I'm happier that way.

Change is possible without suffering. Those who say it isn't have only suffered through change. I'm here to tell you change can be made with little or no pain. Of course it'll cost you tons of co-pays to a psychoanalyst. But it's worth it.

Anonymous said...

i guess it all depends on how you define pain. did i call 40 hours of labor and 6 hours of pushing PAINFUL??? no!
worthwhile? YES, earth shattering? YES. Difficult? YES, painful?? no.
so if that's what you mean, i'm in.
redefining pain is worth it to me to. but, in my little life, the most worthwhile moments have come with some inner struggle. i think the change we are talking about is not ordering turkey if you've been ordering roast beef all your life. its about choosing to do something, or live a life that requires some risk, some unknown, some uncertainty.