It's not unusual.....

Insert old school mental image of Carlton from the Fresh Prince doing his Tom Jones dance. No, really, in all seriousness. I wanted to write a quick blurb about feeling lost. Whatever you are--1, 2, 3 days, weeks, months, years out of college, we all may feel a little lost at some point or may ask ourselves if we have made the right decisions that have led us to where we are today.


I truly believe that feeling lost is a wonderful thing. The sooner we recognize that where we are or what we are doing in life may slightly be off kilter from our expectations, the sooner we are en route to exploring who we really are and what we are really capable of in life. There are few people who have their life 100% together right out of college, and thats OK. Imagine if our life was absolutely set for us at the age of 22 or 23. Let's look at it as exciting to think that we are at the beginning of a new adventure in the process of figuring out our next move. It's almost like a game.


So, when you are sitting at home, wondering when you will ever feel settled, happy, or content with life, don't fear this feeling. Embrace it because it means you are open to the possibility of new, exciting, unknown beginnings.


Share your thoughts....

Helpful links!

Regarding the last post, I wanted to share some helpful links in a more clearcut manner. Enjoy.

FOR AVERAGE TEMPERATURES:
visit www.weather.com. Just type in a city, and when the city comes up, click averages and records for a closer look at average high and low temperatures and rainfall for every month of the year.

I also suggest researching studies on how weather affects your mood. All I know is that I believe winter is depressing so make sure you have plenty to do to keep you busy!

FOR TRAVEL:
http://www.megabus.com/us/ If you are in the Midwest or the West and have not heard of the MegaBus, I highly recommend this as a cheap and relatively quick way to travel back home or to visit a loved one. They offer fares as low as a few dollars, and are an extremely comfortable and reliable form of transportation. Even if you have a car, save yourself the hassle and gas and buy a 40 dollar round trip ticket to go visit someone.
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/HomePage Trains are not out of style, so don't be afraid to research where Amtrek travels as a way to get to where you need to go.

http://www.world-airport-codes.com/ If you have no idea what airport is in or near your city, no worries, just check out this site. and search by city name. Sometimes, you may find that a smaller airport is near a city and will be much cheaper to fly into or out of as opposed to the standard gigantic airports that are the heart of big cities.


Furthermore, you could also check out rent-a-car services including but not limited to Budget, Avis, and Enterprise.

I do NOT recommend hitchhiking....or if you have a car, picking up hitchhikers.

FOR ENTERTAINMENT:
http://www.metromix.com/pick_your_city
Of course, Metromix is just an example of a site that offers the latest reviews on entertainment in a specific handful of cities, but this is just a start.

http://cityguide.aol.com/
This is really a great site to again, research local entertainment in the city of your choice! Explore--really--its fun!

Another thing I suggest doing is going to a site such as www.ticketmaster.com, and typing in a city that you would want to live in or near to see what kind of events are going to be there in the near future.

Where to go?

Let me preface this post by saying that I, as a post graduate, ended up in Chicago, Illinois, but I almost ended up in New York..and Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando, and possibly somewhere else random out West. Lets just say I explored my options. There is no right way to go about choosing your location. Do you go where your friends go? Where family is? Where a job opportunity is? Back home?

First and foremost, you have to sit down and rank your priorities. I know people that have moved to a city for a job without knowing anyone and been miserable while I also know people that have moved to a city because they knew plenty of people but were still miserable in terms of their career. While attempting to choose a city, I would ask yourself, "Even though I enjoy this city as a great place to visit, could I see myself living here?"

Here are a few things to consider as you are choosing a place to move:

What are the activities that I most enjoy doing? (ie...going to the beach, museums, shows, concerts, shopping, to parks etc...)Does that city offer me those things I listed, or is this city in close proxemity to another place that may offer those those features? Hopefully, you will have a life outside of work, and you NEED to make sure that wherever you live offers you activities that are suitable for your taste of having fun.

What kind of weather am I most willing to live in year round?
It is proven that weather can affect our mood, so I would suggest before shelling out the big bucks and effort to relocate yourself, you ask yourself what kind of weather you are most willing to live through or would most enjoy.

Although I would not necessarily recommend having weather be the be all or end all deciding factor, it would not hurt to go to www.weather.com and check out the average year round forecasts of your potential destination.

Where can I even afford to live?
Here is one of the most important factors in deciding where to move after college. COST OF LIVING. I repeat COST OF LIVING is so important. Sure, I could have moved to New York and lived in a shoe box that may or may not fit a full bed, but I know that I would not have been able to afford doing all of the things that I love about New York (ie...seeing Broadway shows, shopping, going out to eat, etc...)

What fun would that have been to live there yet be confined in my apartment. This is not to say that New York is out of the picture forever. I am just saying that we have to make smart choices in order to be truly happy.

What I would strongly recommend is visiting one of the many sites that offer a cost of living calculator. By using this, one can enter the city they currently live and how much money they live off of. Then you can enter your tentative city and the calculator will tell you how much you need to earn in order to maintain your style of living (based off the figure of money that you gave in your current city).

Now, let's say that it tells you that you would need to make $50,000 in city X, but you know your salary is not going to be that much, then one of two things needs to happen.

1. Cross that city off your list (for now)
2. Reassess your current lifestyle and the ways in which you can
minimize your spending to make your budget work in a city that has
a higher cost of living.

*** Try this calculator http://swz.salary.com/costoflivingwizard/layoutscripts/coll_start.asp

How important is it to live near family and friends?
Just remember a few things: If you don't live near the ones you love, will you be able to afford going to visit them. If not, will you be okay with this fact. It is that simple. Yes of course, maybe family and friends will come visit, but you have to be certain if you don't live near family and friends that you will either A. be able to afford going to visit them or B. be okay with a new change of seeing the ones you love just a handful of times a year

If it is important to you, find out in your new city how easy it is for loved ones to come visit. For example, do you live in a city with an international airport, train station, and bus depot, or do you live 2 hours away from the nearest small airport that may or may not have service to where friends or family live. Just some things to think about.....

Finally, will this city offer me the career growth I am looking for?
If the city is more important than the job, please just make sure you CAN find a job that will make you happy in your field or industry! I would not want you to end up in a fantastic, affordable city with great weather, plenty of culture, close to family and friends, yet absolutely no opportunity for a career. That would just be very bad.

Welcome!

College. The best 3, 4, 5, 7, or however many years of your life. Perhaps. You learn everything from geography of the world to chemistry to communications to business to art to religious studies to political science to sociology, etc....the list goes on! However, I'd like to think that many of us were not taught at length about how to adjust to the real world. Period. Here are a few questions many of us may have often pondered as graduation crept closer: How do we know where we want to move post graduation? After years of education, are we even sure of what career path we would like to follow? How will I be able to afford living on my own (if you haven't experienced that yet previously)?

We often hear of a mid-life crisis, but I'd like to talk about the idea behind what Abby Miller and Cathy Stocker have coined the 'quarter life crisis'--well, okay not as dramatic as it sounds--but more so the crisis many people find themselves at in their 20's essentially. You hear rumors that we may have 10 jobs before we're 30. You worry about finding the love of your life if you have not already found him or her in college. You may be scared that you will not live up to siblings, parents, or friends success or expectations.

As I stood inevitably crying my eyes about upon leaving my dear friends from college, one friend said to me, " Ya know, when you leave high school, we felt this same way--that things would never be okay and they were. Now, we're leaving again, and we feel as though things will never be okay again, and they will".

Stay tuned for more...